


Ashes To Flames

by unwrittengold



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Hurt Ianto Jones, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:42:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 33,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27707819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwrittengold/pseuds/unwrittengold
Summary: Originally written way back in 2008 and posted to the livejournal communityjackxiantounder the name ivegotthemusic. This and another story I wrote ('Til The End Of Time) were reworked into the Soul Song saga after more canon material came out for me to use.Summary: Ianto not only feels emotions, he sees colors with them as well. Then, after an incident, they become the only things he feels and sees.
Relationships: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Comments: 6
Kudos: 40





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So this is actually the first Torchwood fic I ever really truly wrote! Thank you to badly_knitted for sending it to me so I can re-upload it here! I definitely think that my pacing has improved, at least... This was written after the end of season two, so there's a whole lot of canon that came after it that made me change quite a few things around for the Soul Song saga. A prime example is what we learned about Ianto's family in Children of Earth and Broken lol. It's very different to what I wrote for this!
> 
> This story takes place after Adam. As far as the Soul Song saga, some story elements have more or less remained the same! And some things I had completely forgotten happened in this story that I will definitely be incorporating into the saga! And some plot things I can't even remember where I was going with... oops. 
> 
> Of course, my love of Ianto whump has remained the same so... yeah, there will be some of that in here, haha. Poor Ianto. I sure do love putting my favorite characters in difficult situations 8D

_I’m going to meet them_ , Xel thought giddily as he appeared in London, England, 2055. _I’m going to meet the ones who changed everything_.

Xel was a Kirin and looked sort of like a humanoid golden monkey with golden fur around his face like a mane. It rippled constantly, glittering gold in the sunlight. Using technology he’d gotten not quite legally, he’d jumped back in time to now, wanting to see his heroes start off on their legendary journey.

He grinned, making sure that his masking device was working so he’d appear to look human. He didn’t want to startle them by just showing up as he really was. They should be here, the Endless Ones, along with the rest of Torchwood as they all joined together into one united front, coming out from the shadows into the light so that everyone knew who they were and that they were protecting the Earth, thanks to the great efforts of Megan Williams and led by the Harkness twins.

Xel’s mane rippled faster with excitement. The Harkness twins! He was going to get to see them, and if he was very lucky, the rest of their team. Megan Williams would be there, of course, as she was largely responsible for getting the whole thing started. It would be a miracle if he saw the Endless Ones, but he didn’t mind if he didn’t. He had already met them in his own time when they’d helped save his planet. If Xel could met the Doctor before he died, he would take his death whenever it came happily. What a privilege!

There was a click of a gun behind him and Xel froze, then slowly turned around. He looked nervously at a woman as she pressed a gun to his forehead. “Erm, hello,” he greeted, his voice shaking.

“Hello,” the woman said coldly. “You’ll need to come with me, I’m afraid. Can’t have aliens running around London freely.”

What? he thought, but this is 2055! When everything changes! Not all aliens should be viewed as a threat! He glanced down at his time device quickly, then did a double take and almost groaned.

1955\. 100 years too early. Xel opened his mouth to explain but was cut short when the woman shot him in the leg. He collapsed with a scream and a bag was shoved over his head. Something hit him and he lost consciousness.

When he woke up, he was strapped to some kind of chair. Startled, he struggled to move, but his legs and wrists were clamped down.

“It’s awake, sir,” a voice said. Xel looked up to see the woman from earlier, holding a folder under her arm with a writing board and some kind of writing utensil in her hand.

“Is… is that a pen?” he asked excitedly, forgetting the trouble he was in for a moment.

Someone kicked him in his injured leg and he let out a cry. “We’re asking the questions here,” a man told him tightly. “Now. What are you, where are the others, and what are you plotting against the Earth?”

“N-nothing!” Xel stammered, his fur rippling faster in fear. “I j-just wanted to see the Endless Ones! Torchwood!”

The woman and man glanced at each other for a moment. “Well, you found one of them,” the man informed him. “You’re in Torchwood.”

“I wanted to see the twins!” Xel said desperately. “The Harkness twins! Megan Williams! The Endless Ones!”

The woman quickly jotted something down on the board she was holding as he spoke.

The man held up a gun and pointed it at him. “Answer the other questions. What are you, where are the others, and what are you plotting?”

“My… my name is Xel. I am a Kirin. I came alone. I just wanted to see when everything changes!” he said, shrinking back in the chair as much as he could. The guns of this time were different, not just pure energy, and they hurt, but only in one place. He wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.

“What do you mean, when everything changes?” the man pressed. “Who are the Endless Ones?”

“They… they cannot die. They are heroes. They are protectors. They saved my world from the Cetrani. They are like the Doctor.”

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say. The man looked startled, then snapped to the woman, “Find out everything you can about whatever he’s talking about! Now!”

The woman nodded and quickly left the room.

“Please, this is a mistake,” Xel protested. “I am in the wrong time. I meant to go to 2055, not 1955. Please let me go.”

The man’s eyes lit up slightly. “A time traveler? How did you get here?”

“I… stole a time device,” he admitted reluctantly, figuring that telling the truth would help him more than lying.

“Is that it?” the man asked, motioning towards the device on his wrist.

Xel nodded then let out a cry when the man reached forward and yanked it from his arm. “Give it back! I need it to return home!”

The man looked at him coldly. “You’re not going home.”

They waited in silence for awhile, the man refusing to speak to him again until the woman returned. “No record of a Megan Williams or the Endless Ones on file, sir,” she reported. “No Harkness twins, but we do have a Jack Harkness on file. He’s an agent of Torchwood Cardiff.”

“Jack!” Xel cried out in relief. “Yes, Jack Harkness; he is one of the Endless Ones! Harkness and Jones! That is what Jones called him; he called him Jack!”

“Send someone to Cardiff now,” the man ordered. “I want someone to question Harkness as soon as possible.”

“Yes, sir.” The woman left, then returned less than a minute later. “Ready to continue, sir.” She held the pen up, ready to write again.

“Good.” The man turned to Xel once more. “You say you wanted to get to 2055. What happens in 2055?”

“Megan… Megan Williams convinces Torchwood and UNIT that they cannot hide any longer, that the Earth should know about other species out there. Torchwood is brought together into one united organization, led by the Harkness twins. The Endless Ones let them lead, guiding them from the shadows.”

“The Endless Ones are controlling them?”

“No! They are helping them!” Xel protested. “The 21st century is when everything changes!” He paused for a moment, realizing that these people had no idea what was about to happen, the great things that they would witness in the next 100 years. “The 21st century is when everything changes… and you have to be ready,” he added quietly. “The Mother, the Mind, the Medic, and the Memory, led by the Guardian, guided by the Light to defeat the Darkness…”

Xel raised his eyes to look at them. “You are not ready yet. All hope lies in him, in the Memory. He is the only one that can drive the Darkness back. Please, you must keep him safe until he is ready!” he begged. “Others will come after him! You must find him, protect him, teach him, until the Light can find him! He is - ”

Xel suddenly froze, a look of realization coming across his face. He started to laugh softly.

“What’s so funny?” the man snapped.

“In… in the stories…” Xel explained, chuckling quietly to himself, “an alien comes and warns Torchwood to protect the Memory… to find him… The alien tells Torchwood about the others… about what will happen… so that when the Darkness comes, the Memory and the Light know what must be done... The Memory knows he is the only one who can stop the Chaos. I am the alien. It’s me.”

“Who is the Memory?” the man insisted, moving closer to Xel, looking at him intently.

“He will be born in 1983. You will find him in London in 2003. Recruit him for Torchwood then. He may not seem like much at that time but he will become so much more in the future. You must recruit him so he can begin his journey,” Xel told the man quietly, feeling braver. He knew that the alien died shortly after telling this to Torchwood, but knowing he, Xel, helped to save Earth by telling this gave him strength. Earth was where the Endless Ones came from and the Endless Ones had saved his planet, so he would help save theirs.

“And his name?” the man pressed, practically right in Xel’s face. “What’s his name?”

“Jones,” Xel said in almost a whisper. “Ianto Jones.”

*********************************************************

“Ianto Meredith Jones!” Lew yelled, heaving a relieved sigh. “There you are!”

His little boy jumped, startled when his father suddenly came outside. He clutched his baby blanket tighter to him, looking up at Lew with slightly fearful eyes.

Lew sat down on the grass beside him and pulled him into his lap. He leaned down to kiss light brown hair. “You gave me a fright when you weren’t in your bed. It’s almost ten at night! Don’t you think that’s far past time five year olds should be in bed?” he teased.

“Sorry, Daddy,” Ianto replied, burrowing sleepily into his father’s arms. “Wanted to see the pretty light.”

“Oh?” Lew asked in amusement. “What was the pretty light doing?”

“Talkin’ and dancin’ in colors,” Ianto murmured, closing his eyes. “Wanted to go see it but no night light out there.”

Lew laughed softly, marveling at his child’s mind. “Yes, the stars are pretty, aren’t they?”

Ianto shook his head slowly as he quickly drifted off. “Not stars. Lots bigger.” He pulled back a little, squinting up at his father. “Bigger ‘n you. Went by my window.”

Lew raised an eyebrow. Probably just a dream, then. “Come on. Let’s go back inside. We want to go see Gramma at the hospital tomorrow, don’t we?” He and Ianto were at his deceased wife’s parent’s house in the countryside fairly near London. His father-in-law had already passed away and it seemed his mother-in-law would be dying soon. As his wife was an only child, he wanted to be with her mother before she died so she wouldn’t be alone.

Ianto shook his head sleepily. “Don’t want the pretty light to feel alone.”

“Why is the light lonely?” Lew asked, getting to his feet with his son in his arms.

Ianto wrapped his arms loosely around Lew’s neck. “Cuz it’s all alone. It got lost but I saw it and it’s not alone now cuz it’s talkin’ to me.”

Something about the way his son said those words made him pause. “Is the pretty light still talking to you?”

Ianto nodded. “Was scared but I told it not to be. Told it it’d be okay cuz you take care of me so you’d take care of it too cuz you’re big and strong and my daddy.”

Lew slipped a hand into his son’s hair, pressing him closer in a protective embrace. “That’s right,” he said softly, a pang going through his heart as he stared off into the night. “I’ll protect you.” He couldn’t protect his wife before she died but he damn well was going to do whatever it took to protect his son.

Then he saw something that made him pause. There was a faint, barely glowing light off in the distance… and he was positive there was nothing out over that way. Heartbeat quickening, he asked, “Ianto? Can you show Daddy where the pretty light is?”

His little boy raised a hand slowly, pointing in the exact direction the light was coming from.

Lew suddenly had the terrifying urge to just turn and run, to get Ianto out of there and as far away as he possibly could. “Ianto, I want you to stop talking to the light right now,” Lew demanded, knowing he sounded crazy. “Do it now!” he snapped.

Ianto blinked, startled by his father’s sharp tone. His daddy hardly ever raised his voice at him. “I can’t.”

“Ianto, do as I say,” he ordered, fear growing rapidly.

“I can’t, Daddy, I’m sorry; it won’t go away,” Ianto told him, looking at him with apprehensive eyes. He didn’t want to get punished but he really couldn’t get the colors out of his head…

Just then, there was a firm knock on the front door that caused Lew to jump in fright. Tightening his hold on his son, he went to the front door and opened it slowly. “Yes?” he asked cautiously, eyeing the small group of people outside. “Do you know how bloody late it is?”

“Mr. Llewellyn Jones?” a woman asked.

“Yes,” he confirmed slowly. “Is this about my mother-in-law…?”

The woman gave him a tight smile then swept into the small house, uninvited. “I’m afraid not, sir. There’s been a meteor crash close to here and we just wanted to know if any debris landed nearby your home.”

Lew’s eyes narrowed, getting the feeling like she wasn’t being completely honest. “My… son said he saw a light go by his window,” he admitted, watching her carefully.

The woman cast a glance at Ianto. “And your son’s name is…?”

“Ianto,” the five year old told her himself. “I’m Ianto.”

The woman froze abruptly, then turned slowly to look at him. “Ianto Jones?”

Ianto nodded, then burrowed his face shyly into his father’s neck.

“What’s his birthday?” she asked Lew casually, even though Lew could see a glint of… something in her eyes.

“August 19th, 1983.”

She smiled tightly. “So he’s 5 then.”

Lew nodded. “What’s this about?”

“If you don’t mind, we’d like to ask your son a few questions about this light.”

“Is something wrong?” Lew pressed. “If something’s wrong with my son, I want to know about it!”

Ianto suddenly went stiff in his arms and let out a whimper. “Daddy, something’s hurting the light.”

The next thing Lew knew, someone had yanked Ianto from his arms. “Hey! Give him back!” Lew demanded, moving after them, but two men blocked his way. “Give me my son back!” he yelled, trying to move around them but they grabbed his arms and pulled him away. “Leave him alone! Ianto! IANTO!”

******************************************************

Ianto was scared. He wanted his daddy. He wanted the pretty light to be okay but he couldn’t make it feel better because he was too scared right now. Where was his daddy? “I want my daddy,” he whimpered, staring up at the stranger in front of him.

The woman smiled. “You’ll see your daddy soon,” she soothed. “We just have a few questions for you, alright? As soon as you answer them, then you can go back to your daddy, okay?”

“Want my teddy,” Ianto said, shrinking into the chair in the kitchen he’d been placed in.

“Someone get the bear,” the woman snapped, then turned to him, smiling sweetly. Ianto didn’t like it; it didn’t look right. He squirmed in his seat anxiously as the woman just watched him. Someone brought him his teddy and he reached out to take the bear, clutching it to his chest tightly as if it were a shield.

“Now, Ianto, tell me about the light you saw,” the woman said.

“Daddy helped me get in bed and read me a story,” Ianto told her nervously. “An’ I woke up and there was a light outside my window. It talked to me. It was lost and wanted to go home. Wanted to find its mummy and daddy and brothers and sisters.”

“Did it say anything else about itself? Where it came from? What it is?”

Ianto shook his head. “It’s scared now; someone’s hurting it. Can you make it feel better?” he asked anxiously.

“We won’t make it hurt anymore, I promise,” the woman soothed. “Can you tell me anything else about the light?”

“It talks in colors. Rainbow colors.”

“You can’t tell me anything else?”

Ianto shook his head.

“Very well then. Are you thirsty, Ianto? Do you want something to drink?” the woman asked, getting to her feet.

“Apple juice?” Ianto said hopefully.

The woman smiled. “Apple juice it is.”

Ianto was about to ask if he could go see his daddy now when he suddenly felt like something was being ripped from his mind. He let out a loud gasp, eyes going wide as he dropped his teddy and fell off the chair, crashing to the floor. He started to scream in pain.

The light, something was hurting the light so bad, it was in pain and was screaming at him and he could feel it and it hurt so bad and where was his daddy because Daddy would make everything all better, Daddy always made everything all better, he wanted his daddy, and suddenly his daddy was there, holding him tightly in his arms as he screamed and screamed and screamed.

“What did you do to him?!” Lew shouted at the woman in anger, holding his son’s thrashing body as tightly as he could.

The two men who had been holding him back stumbled into the room, one of them with a bloody nose from a fist to the face.

“We’re protecting him!” the woman snapped. “He’s been connected to an alien somehow and we’re killing it so he won’t be anymore!”

“What?! You’re insane!” Lew yelled, then forgot about the woman, looking down at his son and shaking him. “Ianto, look at me! Ianto, it’s okay!”

Tears were streaming down his little boy’s face and he was trembling in his arms. He didn’t know what to do to make the tears stop. “If I lose him, I swear to god I will kill you!” he said fiercely.

The woman looked at him stonily but concern flickered across her face when she glanced down at Ianto.

A few moments later, Ianto abruptly fell still. Lew’s heart stopped in horror as he silently begged, _No no no no no, not him too, please, god, don’t take him from me too. Not my little boy._

Ianto sucked in a breath, hands scrabbling about to find something to hold onto, then latched onto his father’s shirt. A second later, he was sobbing into Lew’s neck.

Lew closed his eyes, almost crying in relief as he held his son tightly. “It’s okay, it’s okay, Ianto, I’m here, Daddy’s here, I’ve got you.”

“It’s gone,” Ianto cried. “It’s gone, Daddy, the light’s gone.”

Lew made gently shushing sounds, raising his eyes to look at the woman silently. Wordlessly, she handed him a glass of apple juice and Lew took it, taking a sip warily before he gave it to his son. It didn’t taste any different so he held the glass up to Ianto’s mouth and helped him drink it.

Exhausted, it didn’t take Ianto long at all to fall asleep in his father’s arms. Lew looked up at the woman, determined not to let Ianto out of his sight until they left. “Who are you?” he demanded.

The woman smiled slightly. “We’re Torchwood.”

*******************************************************

Lew jolted awake suddenly, then winced at the pain in his neck. Rubbing the back of it, he turned in the chair he must have fallen asleep in to look at his sleeping son. He smiled softly and reached out to run a hand through Ianto’s hair, a storybook falling off his lap onto the floor. He must have fallen asleep last night reading the story to his son.

He idly glanced at the clock. It was fairly early in the morning; he’d let Ianto sleep for a bit longer before they went to the hospital to visit his mother-in-law.

Frowning a little, Lew reached out and picked up an empty glass that was on the floor nearby his chair. He didn’t remember making a drink last night. He must have been very tired; it would make sense why he fell asleep in the chair and not in his bed.

Lew set about making breakfast and tidying up. He found Ianto’s teddy bear in the kitchen and his blanket in the living room. Odd, considering his son had trouble sleeping without them. When he brought them into Ianto’s room, his son was sitting up, blinking at the wall blearily.

Lew laughed and mussed his head a little. “Did you sleep well? Any dreams?”

Ianto smiled in an ‘I just woke up’ way. “No dreams, Daddy.”

******************************************************

At Torchwood London, the woman who had visited the Jones’ the night before walked into the director’s office. “Ma’am?”

The elderly woman looked up from a file she was reading over about the alien found last night. Father and son had both been retconned so they wouldn’t remember what had happened to them. When she saw their names, however, she paused. She knew that name. She’d been working for Torchwood for 30 years, starting in 1953 and had slowly made her way up the ranks. She remembered 1955 when she’d assisted the director in questioning an alien about that name. “Yes?”

“We’ve found him.”


	2. Chapter One

Ianto Jones had been through quite a bit in his 24 years on Earth. When he was younger, his father, Llewellyn, told him he was a miracle baby. His mother, Dilys, gave birth to him when she was 42 and when Lew was 45. His birthday was August 19th, 1983. Three years later, his mother died in a car accident. She’d been coming home from getting food. His father was reading him a story about Merlin when the policemen arrived.

Growing up, to say his father was a messy person was an understatement. Ianto was always cleaning up one thing or another. It boggled his mind how a master tailor could excel at his job in such clutter. His father would smile at him fondly, telling him he was just like his mother with his need to keep everything neat, clean, and organized. He was 14 when they found out Lew had cancer and 17 when his father died from it.

Ianto went to live with his great aunt in Aberystwyth after that. She was the only family he had left. He went to university there in order to stay close to her because she was over 80. Ianto was very bright and excelled in school. His great aunt died after he got his degree and he was approached by Torchwood shortly after that. After being there for less than a year, he found himself working in the main office directly alongside Yvonne Hartman herself. Ianto prided himself on his intellect and even though he wasn’t sure what the exact reason Torchwood had for recruiting him was, he flourished there. It was his job to oversee the archives. He loved it, being able to see so many interesting objects and read so many different reports. He met Lisa there shortly after he joined. He fell in love with her and she with him. For the first time in his life, Ianto truly felt happy.

Then the Doctor came and Canary Wharf happened. Ianto’s happy life turned into a nightmare. Only 27 people survived out of around 800. Some of the survivors committed suicide after that. They thought that it was better to die than live with the horrors they had seen. Ianto never gave that a second thought because all his attention was focused on Lisa. Even after two years, he still occasionally had nightmares of conversion units and hearing people scream in torture, but he’d pushed through his own problems at the time for her sake. She needed him. He would find a way to help her.

It was during the battle of Canary Wharf that he first started seeing the Colors, as he called them.

Desperate to get help for Lisa and knowing only Torchwood had the means to do so, he returned to Cardiff for the first time since his father died, intent on getting Captain Jack Harkness to hire him. It’d taken some time, manipulation, and a pterodactyl to do so but he finally managed to get Jack to trust him enough and got himself a job at Torchwood Cardiff.

Ianto managed to sneak Lisa into Torchwood Three and did all he could to find a way to heal her. He’d hacked into and changed his files earlier, demoting himself from head researcher to just a junior researcher so he would seem less innocent. After Jack found out about his previous job at Torchwood One, he gave him full reign of the archives. It was the perfect place to put her, deep below the main area where everyone usually was. 

They found out about Lisa and he was suspended from coming into work for weeks. It was during that time that the Colors didn’t mirror his own emotions and he started to believe that they were not an extension of himself, but something else completely.

Whatever emotion Ianto was feeling, he always saw a color for it. Not in front of his eyes, but inside his mind, like a child might take a can of paint and throw it onto the ground. Over the years, he’d learn to identify the basic emotions. Red was anger. Orange was irritation. Yellow was surprise. Green was content. Blue was anxiety. Purple was when he was upset. He saw a deep dark purple that was almost black whenever he was afraid or in pain. He never told anyone about the Colors and no one ever seemed to pick up anything different about him physically anyway.

The night Lisa died, Gwen took him home in silence. Once inside, he’d sat and stared at the wall for hours in despair, the colors shifting in shades of blue and purple… until they suddenly changed to green, even though he wasn’t feeling happy at all. It was a rich vibrant green, the color of growing grass and trees, the color of the earth, the color of life itself. He could feel something reaching out to him and comforting him, using the green to send waves of warmth through his mind. Ianto knew then he was not alone and it gave him strength to push on ahead. He spent the next few weeks dealing with what had happened at Canary Wharf and everything since then since he’d never taken time to do so before, too intent on caring for Lisa. He knew the pain of losing her would never go away but he hoped that it would slowly become more bearable.

When Ianto went back to work, it was like nothing had changed. The others still didn’t talk to him much and he went around cleaning up after them as well as tying up loose ends as usual. Then Tosh brought him a coffee and asked if he was alright. Outwardly, he’d only smiled and said he was fine, but inwardly he was shocked and touched. It was the nicest thing anyone had done for him for a long time.

Jack had taken to talking to him more and Ianto knew it was because he felt, somehow, slightly responsible for Lisa. He thought it was a bit odd when Jack asked him to come along on a half-camping trip, half-investigation but knew Jack did it to make him feel like he was more part of the team. That time went everything went to hell, he had more support than the last two times. Ianto never told Gwen just how relieved he was when the cannibal pushed him to the side when everything started shaking and she threw her arms around him, holding him tight. After all that he had been through, after almost dying by the Cybermen, he didn’t want to be killed by members of his own species. Ianto swore the colors actually were black then. He’d been terrified.

Afterwards was the second time the colors shifted to green, making him feel safe once again even if he had nightmares afterwards. Some time later, Mary showed up and took Tosh hostage in their own base. Once again, Ianto knew that everything had the chance to go to hell. He didn’t know what he’d do if he lost another person close to him. Out of everyone, he’d just started to create a real friendship with Tosh. She’d brought him the coffee, she’d been with him when they’d been taken by the cannibals… Her being there had kept him from losing it completely, and now, with a single slice of a blade, she could be taken away. When Mary let her go, she went not to Owen, who was closer, but to him. He’d reached out and rested a hand on her arm lightly as if to reassure himself she was safe now and she hadn’t pulled away.

Ianto needed someone, needed human contact, and he knew that Jack thought he was attractive, knew Jack would probably say yes if he asked so he did, albeit subtly. Time passed and Ianto honestly wasn’t sure why he continued to have a relationship with Jack. Towards the end of it all, though, he felt something stirring within him, something he hadn’t felt for what seemed like a long time. Ianto tried to stop Owen from opening the Rift mainly because of his loyalty to Jack and slightly because of that feeling.

Then Jack died and Ianto wondered if he would ever feel happy again. He hadn’t seen the green for so long and he ached for it but that time, it didn’t show even though he still saw the Colors.

Jack came back and when he kissed him in front of everyone, Ianto wondered maybe, just maybe, if Jack wanted something more. Then he left, gone with the Doctor, and Ianto let go of the fleeting hope he had held for a few moments.

This time, though, the others supported him subtly. They supported each other as they dealt with the loss of Jack and Ianto felt like they really pulled together and became a true team. They cared about each other in their own ways and Ianto admitted to himself he thought of them as his friends.

When Jack returned and said he found his doctor, Ianto knew what he really meant. He had worked for Torchwood One before and they were required to know all about the Doctor. Ianto asked Jack if he was planning on going back to the Doctor and he saw a bright sunshine yellow when Jack replied that he came back for him. The yellow quickly faded when he changed his words. Ianto admitted he felt a little jealous when Captain John showed up. He didn’t trust easily and he certainly didn’t trust anything that came through the Rift. That was why he was surprised and taken off guard when Jack actually asked him out on a date later on.

With Jack back, the team felt complete and Ianto finally saw green more often. His carefully maintained mask had dropped since then and he acted more like how he used to be when he was at Torchwood One before the Cybermen came.

He also realized he was falling in love with Jack. He didn’t expect Jack to reciprocate the feeling, knowing that Jack was different. He was from a different time and it seemed like he would sleep with pretty much any sentient being, so Ianto didn’t expect him to remain faithful or not flirt or not do anything with anyone else. He accepted Jack for what he was and the way he was and was happy enough with the fact that Jack cared about him as well. It wasn’t love like how it had been with Lisa, but it was love.

Ianto Jones had been through a lot in his 24 years on Earth but getting sedated in his own tourist office, even if it wasn’t a real one, was something he most definitely hadn’t expected to happen. 

A few days had passed after they all somehow lost 48 hours of their memory. Ianto was up in the tourist office, getting ready to close it and head down to the Hub when a woman walked in. Inwardly he sighed, a flicker of orange flashing across his mind. He hoped she wouldn’t take long as he put on a smile. “Hello. May I help you?” Ianto greeted warmly.

The woman smirked slowly, walking up to the desk like a supermodel walking down a runway at half-speed. She leaned a little over the desk, raising her eyes and staring into his as she licked her lips, trailing a finger along the edge of it in what was clearly meant to be a suggestive way. “Actually, you’re the perfect person for the job, Mr. Jones.”

When the woman sauntered in, Ianto felt a twinge of wariness, wondering what she was up to. Now that she knew his name, he was on high alert, reaching underneath the desk and pressing a button that alerted the others below there was trouble. His gun was loaded but out of reach so he rose slowly to his feet, intending to make his way to it in a way that she wouldn’t notice.

He didn’t even take a step when the woman whipped up a gun of her own and shot him. The impact sent him crashing back against the wall with a loud gasp, yellow flaring across his mind that instantly swirled blue and purple with worry and panic. Ianto flung a hand up to his chest, feeling around hastily for the wound. In his shock, he didn’t register at first that he wasn’t really in any pain. After a moment, he froze, looking down at his palm. There wasn’t any blood on it, only a dart sticking out of his chest. Mind feeling hazy and confused, Ianto grasped the dart and pulled it out.

“Just relax,” the woman informed him, her lips curling up into a twisted grin as she lowered the gun. “There’s a sedative in that. It’ll make you unable to move for an hour. It should be taking effect now. I don’t want you dead… yet.”

Ianto tried to think, tried to do something, but his mind was a jumble of panicked thoughts and his body wouldn’t obey him. He attempted to grab onto something to keep himself upright but only succeeded in knocking things over as his legs gave out and he slumped to the ground.

“Get in here! Hurry up!” he heard the woman say. There was the sound of the door opening and two men appeared in his line of sight over the desk a few seconds later. Both were big and burly. It was clear to see that the woman was the brains of the group while they were the brawn. “Hurry, get him,” she barked, waving her gun in Ianto’s direction. “He should have alerted the others some way or another by now.”

Ianto inwardly cursed. He’d done exactly what the woman had wanted him to do. One of the men came around, grasped him by the arm, and hauled him up roughly. A second later, he was scooped up into the man’s large arms. He didn’t have any control of his body now, his head and limbs dangling uselessly. He couldn’t even speak, only blink and look around with his eyes. There had to be something he could do before the others got here; he refused to be used as a bargaining tool for whatever they wanted.

The woman walked over to him, eyes roaming up and down his body in a way that made Ianto feel sick inside. “You have absolutely no idea what you are going to become,” she noted, a hint of amusement and annoyance in her tone. “You are an absolute pain to me along with that bloody Harkness.”

The secret door that led to the Hub opened up and Jack, Tosh, Gwen, and Owen poured out, guns drawn. They’d probably seen what had happened on the CCTV as soon as the alarm sounded.

The woman turned towards them, placing her gun directly against Ianto’s head. “Ah, Harkness! I’m glad you’re here,” she said in a false cheery tone.

Ianto could barely see Jack and the others out of the corner of his eye but he could hear them just fine. “Let him go,” Jack demanded, cool and cold. A wave of red washed over Ianto, frustrated that his body wouldn’t obey him no matter how much he tried to move even the tip of one finger. It stung, being useless and unable to do anything to help.

“Don’t worry, he’s not injured,” the woman replied wryly. “Just a little drugged right now. He’ll be fine in an hour or so… if he’s still alive by then. Let me introduce myself. My name is Covita Eradi. These are my associates, Zev and Zan. Let’s have a little word down in your base, shall we? And please put your guns on the desk there unless you’d rather see the inside of Mr. Jones’ head all over the floor,” she said in a calm, polite tone.

Ianto could hear Jack draw in an irritated breath. “Do what she says,” he sharply ordered the rest of the team. Ianto could hear them dropping their guns on the desk, Zev – or was it Zan? Whoever was holding him – backing up against the wall so they couldn’t get too close. Even though he couldn’t move, he could still feel the metal of Covita’s gun pressing against his skull.

“Lead the way, Harkness,” Covita said. “I hope I don’t have to tell you to not try anything. Mr. Jones isn’t much good to you dead; I can assure you of that. Please keep your hands where I can see them. That goes for you three, too,” she directed to Owen, Tosh, and Gwen.

They made their way slowly down to the Hub. Straining his eyes to the side, Ianto could somewhat make out the others in front of him. They were all walking backwards cautiously but holding their hands up in the air.

“Covita Eradi, huh? Doesn’t ring a bell. Have we met before?” Jack asked, keeping his voice casual but Ianto could hear the underlying tension.

“Yes, actually. My past, your future,” Covita informed him crisply. “You and Jones have ruined my plans more than once and quite frankly? I’m sick of it. Managed to get my hands on a vortex manipulator. Had to go back in time before you create your little… connection with Jones. I thought about going back to before you were immortal, but you didn’t know Jones then and I couldn’t go back to before you met Jones because how else would I get my revenge by killing the man you love?”

Ianto could hear the heavy silence in the air after that, feeling surprised himself by the words. He knew Jack loved him but he didn’t think Jack loved him.

“What do you want,” Jack finally said, his voice sounded more guarded and intense. Threatening to kill Ianto probably hadn’t been the best idea.

“I wanted to see the famous Torchwood headquarters, of course!” Covita replied brightly, sounding like she was an old friend visiting for afternoon tea. “Wanted to see where the famous Harkness and Jones came from.”

Harkness and Jones? What was Covita talking about? By connection, Ianto assumed she was talking about their relationship, but then he remembered she said she was from the future…

“So do I get a tour or…” Covita suddenly trailed off. She’d turned her head; Ianto could tell by the direction her voice was coming from, and stopped talking when she was facing him. “What is that?” Covita sounded like she was in shock. She didn’t get an answer. “Zev, Zan, do you see it?” she demanded, pressing the gun tighter against his head. “What are you?”

Zev and Zan made noises of confusion; Ianto didn’t think they were very intelligent. “What is he?!” Covita demanded again, turning to Jack. “Why is he glowing?!”

“Look, lady, I have no idea what you’re on - ” Jack started to say cautiously, confused himself, before she cut him off.

“He has an aura around him!” Covita insisted. “You can’t have made the connection already; that’s impossible.” It was clear Covita was quickly becoming agitated and nervous from her tone. Jack said something but Ianto didn’t hear it above Covita’s suddenly fierce and vicious words. “I’ll just kill you now,” she snarled, moving the gun to point it at his chest. She was using the same gun as before, he was sure, so he probably wouldn’t be killed if she shot him again but that still didn’t stop panic from flaring up in his mind.

She fired the same time Jack lunged forward with yell of protest. The dart hit Ianto in the chest again and his body jerked. The sound of a different gun went off and Jack let out of curse of pain. He could hear the others call out Jack’s name worriedly and knew he’d been shot by one of the henchmen. That didn’t stop Jack from continuing to grapple with Covita, though. “Run! Now! Get weapons!” he yelled back at the team, his voice sounding strained. If the wound didn’t kill Jack, it’d be a mortal wound and would heal like a normal human would if they got shot, Ianto thought in concern.

Then whatever had been in the dart hit and things went from bad to worse. Pain started surging through him that increased rapidly until he would have screamed out from it if he could open his mouth. His body started shaking of its own accord and whoever was holding him must have dropped him because he felt himself hit the ground for a second before the pain overruled everything else.

Ianto heard people shouting and thought he heard Jack yell Owen’s name. He wanted to scream, his body feeling like a myriad of needles that were burning white hot were being thrust into his skin all at once. His body spasmed and his throat clenched and he couldn’t breathe, unsure if it was because his airway had suddenly closed or if it was because he was in so much pain. He tried to call out for Jack, for Owen, for Tosh, for Gwen, for anyone to stop it, stop the pain, just make it stop, to do something to end it. Colors were whirling through his mind, a dark mix of purple and blue or was it black, he wasn’t sure, he couldn’t think -

“Ianto! Ianto, hold on!” he heard a voice call out to him in his mind as a quick flash of green and warmth swept over him for a second. Desperately, he tried to reach out and grab the green, hold it close, the green was good, the green was comforting, he needed it now, clung to the voice, Lisa, it was Lisa. He couldn’t see her but he knew it was her voice.

Yes. Lisa was dead and now he was dying and he could go to her and there would be no more pain and –

“NO! Ianto, no, Jack, you’ve got to hold on for Jack!” Lisa’s voice told him, pleading. “Think of Jack!”

Jack.

Ianto’s eyes snapped open, unaware he’d even closed them. The spasms were starting to slow down and the pain was fading too even though he still felt like he was burning. He could see Jack and Owen hovering over him. Jack kept on looking between him and Owen, face pale, a red stain on his shoulder. Ianto saw Owen’s mouth moving but couldn’t hear him. Jack lifted him up into his arms even as his body continued to thrash, yanked the jacket of his suit off hurriedly, then ripped his shirt sleeve open as Owen held up a needle and injected something into him.

His mind started to feel very fuzzy and tired and Ianto inwardly panicked slightly, wondering if he was dying or simply passing out. He tried to make his body move, tried to reach up towards Jack, feeling very afraid. He must have been able to move it slightly because Jack reached forward and grabbed his hand, speaking to him even though Ianto still couldn’t hear him. His vision started to fade and loose focus.

Ianto tried to speak, tried to say Jack’s name; he wasn’t sure if he did because everything was fading now. His body started to feel very very heavy and he started to slip away into blackness against his will. For a moment, he thought he felt Jack kissing him. There was a brief surge of triumph from somewhere along with bright, vivid, rich green, as if the Colors were telling him it was okay to rest now, that he was safe in Jack’s arms, that he wasn’t alone… so he let go.

And Ianto Jones died.


	3. Chapter Two

There was a pause of silence that was a second far too long. Jack lifted his eyes from Ianto’s face and looked at Owen searchingly. “Owen?” he pressed, asking without words why the doctor had stopped working.

“No pulse, Jack,” Owen said quietly but firmly, meeting his gaze. “He’s dead.”

“Jack?” Gwen asked, coming up to them, holding a gun in her hands. They’d managed to get weapons and take out the two thugs who were currently lying in a mess on the floor of the Hub with bullet holes riddled through them. Covita, however, had used her vortex manipulator to get away. Tosh was going through the computer, trying to pick up her trace.

Jack didn’t answer Gwen, staring down silently at Ianto’s body. He took in a slow, deep breath and let it out with a shudder, tightening his grip on Ianto’s body, still in his arms, as he stared ahead.

“Jack?” Gwen asked again, concern in her voice and also a hint of confusion, like she was unsure of what they should do now since they’d just lost Ianto. She reached out and put a tentative hand on his shoulder.

That seemed to snap him out of it. He locked eyes with Owen again, teeth clenching. “Find. Her,” he demanded in a tone that left no room for argument. “I want her back here, in a cell, A.S.A.P.”

“Jack, what if she’s gone back through time ag-” Tosh started to say, her fingers paused above a keyboard as she looked at Jack worriedly.

“I don’t care!” Jack snapped, getting to his feet and hefting Ianto into his arms. “Find her! Owen, look him over, find out exactly what she injected into him but don’t do anything else!” he ordered, carrying Ianto’s body swiftly to the medbay. “Tosh, I want answers now!”

“I’m try-” Tosh protested, then stopped when alarms started going off. Her hands flew across the keyboard for a few moments before she let out a slight gasp. “Oh my god.”

“What?” Gwen asked, going to her side. When she saw the computer screen, her eyes widened. “Jack, you need to see this.”

Jack carefully laid Ianto down on the autopsy table, then rested a hand on his forehead, looking at him with an unreadable expression as Owen stood watching nearby.

“Jack!” Gwen said louder.

The leader of Torchwood Three tore himself away and ran over to where the two women were to get a look at the monitor. It looked like a small army had suddenly just poured out of the Rift. At least 50 dots were on the screen and were slowly weaving their way into and around Cardiff.

Jack swore loudly.

************************************************************

_Stay strong, Tosh_ , she thought to herself. _Stay strong_. Ianto’s death had rattled her and the situation she was currently in was only making it worse.

She, Gwen, and Jack had gone to try and figure out what the things that came through the Rift were. Tosh had had her scanner out, using it to track one down. She’d taken off after the signal she was getting in a hurry, thinking that Jack and Gwen were right behind her. However, when she turned around, they were gone. She’d tried the comms, but couldn’t get a signal out. Her scanner had abruptly stopped working suddenly, too. She was alone in the middle of Cardiff and to say she was a little scared was an understatement.

Her hair rose up on the back of her neck as she got the distinct feeling like she was being watched. She hadn’t managed to get a reading on the things so she had no idea what they were. After calling out for Jack and Gwen for about a minute, she was now silent, not wanting to draw unwanted attention.

Tosh turned in a circle, checking to make sure nothing was coming up behind her. Thank god she at least had her gun. She moved slowly down the street, not seeing anyone… or anything, for that matter.

The unnerving feeling didn’t go away as Tosh continued to move around in a slow circle. She really wished that she had someone to watch her back right then.

She froze when she heard a slight hissing sound coming from above her.

Above her. Mentally berating herself for not thinking about that, she looked up.

Two red glowing eyes stared back at her and she could barely make out the outline of something roughly the size of a human before it let out a scream and dropped down.

Tosh whipped her gun up and started firing rapidly but the gun didn’t seem to even phase it. As it descended towards her, she could see it looked like some kind of humanoid lizard… complete with a set of razor sharp teeth she got a good view of as it opened its mouth, probably intent on biting and tearing her head off. Tosh let out her own scream, body tensing up as she braced herself for impact as much as she could as she froze.

There was a sort of humming sound like some device was charging up then an explosion as a bright blue ball of energy slammed into the lizard-like creature. It went limp in the air and crashed into the ground, skidding some ways before it stopped, unmoving. Tosh moved backwards quickly so it wouldn’t fall on her, then turned to look at the person who had saved her.

A man in a dark trenchcoat stood in the street, aiming two odd-looking pistols at the creature. He turned away before Tosh could get a good look at his face, reaching up a hand to touch a Bluetooth headset on his ear. “Jack?” the man asked in an exasperated but very familiar voice. “We’ve got a problem.”

Tosh couldn’t believe her ears. “Ianto?” she asked incredulously.

The man ignored her, jamming a finger at his Bluetooth again. “Jack, can you hear me? Jack? Jack!” he called out, sounding more worried by every word he spoke. “Jack, are you - ” He stopped speaking for a moment, then let out a relieved breath. “Bloody bastard. I thought you’d gotten lost on the jump back.” He was silent for a few seconds, then said in irritation, “Shut it. Listen, we’ve got a problem.” The man paused. “It’s Tosh. Exactly like she said. It’s happening now, Jack. We’ve got to stop them.”

“Ianto?” Tosh asked again, walking up to him slowly, cautiously.

“Alright. Go there and stay there,” the man ordered, ignoring her again. “We don’t need to create a paradox by you seeing yourself. I’ll take care of the rest. Be careful.” Finally, the man turned to face her, pulling off a pair of high-tech glasses so Tosh was able to see his face.

Tosh couldn’t contain a small gasp of surprise. It was Ianto, but he was… different. His hair was a bit longer and scruffier looking. He also had facial hair. As Tosh looked at him in awe and shock, she noticed that while he didn’t look physically older, he did look… older, like he’d lived through so much since the last time she saw him… alive.

He smiled warmly. “Hello, Tosh,” he greeted, affection clear in his tone. “It’s been quite a while since I saw you.”

“What happened?” Tosh pressed, walking up to him slowly. “I thought you’d…”

“Died? Yes,” Ianto replied simply. “But I come back, don’t worry,” he assured her. He held a hand out, palm up invitingly.

Tosh glanced down at it for a moment, then took it cautiously. Ianto pressed her hand against his chest, smiling softly. “See? Still alive.”

His shirt was warm from body heat and Tosh let out a relieved smile. Before she could say anything, though, a familiar voice came through Ianto’s Bluetooth.

“Is Tosh feeling you up, Ianto?”

Ianto rolled his eyes, dropping her hand gently. “She can hear you, Jack.”

“Really? Hi, Tosh!” Jack called out cheerfully. “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you soon!”

“What’s going on?” Tosh asked in confusion. “What are those things? Their species didn’t come up on the computer. And how are you here when you were dead less than an hour ago?” she demanded.

Ianto chuckled. “I still am dead. Well, the me that’s back at the Hub right now. As for those?” He nodded his head towards the lizard creature on the ground. “They’re called Cetrani. Jack and I followed them back through time to here. At first we thought it was just a routine trip but then when I saw you, I knew this was when it happens. And before you ask,” Ianto went on, holding up a hand as Tosh opened her mouth, “I’m not going to tell you what’s going to happen because it might… complicate things if you know what’s ahead. Better to let the events unfold as they occur. Now, if I may borrow your Bluetooth for a moment…?”

Wordlessly, Tosh took it off and handed it to him, wondering what he was up to. It was Ianto, though, and she trusted him. Ianto tinkered with it for a few seconds then pulled out a little circular device. He pressed a button on it then asked, “Alright, do I sound like Owen now?”

Tosh stared at him in awe.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Ianto replied with a grin, using Owen’s voice. He slid Tosh’ Bluetooth over his other ear, was silent for a few moments, then said, “Jack! Jack, Gwen, are you there, damnit! Someone bloody answer me!”

“Owen?” Jack’s voice floated over the comm; Tosh could just barely hear him. “What the hell is going on? We lost communication -”

“You and Gwen need to get back to the Hub NOW, Jack!” Ianto shouted, still sounding like Owen. “Tosh managed to get the comms working again but everything’s going to hell here! I found out what’s wrong with Ianto and you need to get back here right now. It’s bad.”

“Toshiko’s there? We lost her, is she alright?” Jack demanded. “We’re on our way back.”

“She’s fine, she’s fine, just hurry up! Ah, hell, the computers are going haywire again. Tosh! See if you can keep this thing working! Jack, I think we might lose-” Ianto abruptly stopped speaking then yanked the Bluetooth off and pushed a button on the device he’d been using.

“There,” he said calmly in his own voice. “Now that that’s taken care of.” He tucked the circular device away and pulled out another one that was slightly bigger and rectangular.

“Somehow I get the feeling you know exactly what you’re doing,” Tosh acknowledged, watching him work.

“This has already happened before for us,” Ianto explained. “Well, sort of. It’s happened to our Toshiko who told us what happened. Which reminds me. After this is over, please tell the others about what exactly occurred so we know what to do when we have to come back to this time.”

“You’re actually from the future?” she asked incredulously.

Ianto nodded once.

“What are you going to do now? Once Jack and Gwen get back to the Hub and realize that that wasn’t Owen talking, they’ll come back… I assume you did that to get them out of the way.”

“I did it to get Jack out of the way,” Ianto corrected. “If your Jack sees my Jack, it would cause a paradox and paradoxes are… very bad. We should be done by then. Right now, I would much appreciate it if you helped Jack and I out.” He handed the device to her. It looked like a high tech scanner. On the screen, there was a bunch of dots. “The red ones are Cetrani,” Ianto explained. “The green are humans, civilians. The blue dot there is Jack. Stay close to me and tell me if any Cetrani are close to us or if there are any Cetrani going near a human. They should just focus on Jack or I. Alright?”

Tosh nodded, taking the device a bit warily. “Got it.”

“Get your gun. Normal bullets don’t kill them but they do slow them down,” Ianto informed her, putting his glasses back on and pulling out his two pistols. “Let’s go.”

They made their way through the outskirts of Cardiff, Tosh keeping a careful eye on the scanner in front of her as they made their way towards Jack. The Cetrani didn’t seem to be interested in the civilians, because every time they neared a green dot, they went around or away from them. Most were converging towards the blue dot but a few were making their way towards them.

“So what do those glasses do?” Tosh asked as they moved, thousands of questions running through her head, one of them being if it was possible to get her hands on some of these items Ianto had for herself.

“Lots of things. Nightvision, heat vision, infrared… x-ray. Don’t worry, the nightvision is equipped now. It can only be on one mode at a time,” Ianto assured her with a little grin.

“There’s twelve coming towards us. The rest are coming to Jack,” Tosh told him.

Ianto smirked. “They think he’s the bigger threat.”

“Is he?” Tosh asked, suddenly feeling slightly unnerved from the way he said that, like this Ianto was… suddenly different, like she didn’t know him.

“Jack and I are a team,” Ianto replied calmly. “This is just like a strategy we use. Jack goes in first, creating a distraction while I sneak in unnoticed and get the job done. Most people hear about Jack more often then me so they think he’s the bigger threat. It works quite well. Jack and I are a team,” Ianto repeated again, quieter, then added, “but I’m good at what I do, too. How close are they now?”

Tosh looked down at the screen. “They’re moving fast, almost here.”

“Press the blue button on the top of that,” Ianto instructed and Tosh did so. A blue energy shield suddenly sprang to life around her and Ianto stepped away so he wouldn’t get caught in it. “That should keep you safe,” he said with an assuring smile before he turned away. He held up his guns, ready to fire.

“There are four closer than the others,” Tosh called out. “Some of them are circling around behind us.”

“Trying to trap us,” Ianto murmured, smirking slightly like this was some kind of game he played often. “Won’t work. Where?” he asked louder.

“Twelve, two, four, and nine o’clock,” Tosh answered, having turned so she was facing the same way Ianto was.

Ianto moved his hands, one gun now pointing to his left while the other was aimed straight ahead. His head stayed still but his eyes moved behind his glasses constantly.

Tosh watched the screen in nervousness as the dots got closer and closer.

“Don’t worry, Tosh,” Ianto reassured her gently, as if he could tell she was afraid. “We get out of this safe and alive, I promise.” He suddenly snapped his head to the left and fired his gun a split second later. A similar blue ball of energy like the one Tosh had seen before exploded out of it. A scream of pain split through the night as it hit its target and a red dot on the screen vanished.

No sooner had he fired off the shot, Ianto shot in front of him, then twice to his right side, turning his head to take quick aim before he fired. 

“Behind us!” Tosh called out, pivoting to look in that direction.

Ianto whipped his head around, aimed, and fired once more. He’d hit his mark every time and seemed to have the utmost confidence that he would do so. He was sure of himself, fast, accurate, ruthless, and deadly.

This was definitely a different Ianto from the one Tosh knew. She wondered just how far in the future he was from.

The remaining Cetrani came at them at different angles. As Tosh shouted out where they were, Ianto immediately took aim and fired. He barely moved from the spot he was standing in at all.

One Cetrani scared the wits out of Tosh as it dropped down on her from above as she frantically tried to figure out where it was. It hit the shield and let out a shriek as bright blue tendrils of energy shocked it. The red dot that it represented on the screen flickered and went out as it flopped to the ground.

In minutes, it was over. “Come on,” Ianto instructed, moving down the street quickly. “We need to get to Jack. Keep the shield up.”

Tosh followed him, using the scanner to direct the way. There were still quite a lot of the Cetrani surrounding Jack, who wasn’t moving, but Tosh could still see the blue dot so she knew he wasn’t dead. One of the red dots went out nearby him as she watched.

They ran past a few people on the streets who didn’t seem to pay them any mind even though Ianto looked like a secret agent and Tosh was inside a blue force field. Reminded of the invisible lift, she asked, “Perception filter?”

“Always brilliant, Tosh,” Ianto replied, confirming her guess.

Tosh told Ianto to turn a corner and when they did, they saw the Cetrani ahead of them. Jack wasn’t in sight.

Ianto reached up and clicked his Bluetooth… or whatever it was, since Tosh was sure it must have been more advanced than just a simple Bluetooth, on. “Jack, we’re in sight. Are you inside?” There was a pause as Jack must have answered back. “Alright. Stay there. I’ll make a path to you.”

Some of the Cetrani turned to look at him but Ianto didn’t stop moving forward, walking with purpose now. He held up his weapons and opened fire, guns blazing. He didn’t bother with aim, taking down as many of them as he could with as little energy bullets as possible. Tosh made sure to stay close by him until he ordered, “Stay back, Tosh. They shouldn’t be able to get through the shield but just in case.”

“Will you be alright?” she asked as Ianto released the clips and they fell from the guns. The gun used actual bullets then, Tosh realized, but were modified somehow to harness energy.

“Trust me,” Ianto replied, quickly reloading as some of the Cetrani came rushing at them. “Jack and I do this all the time were we come from. It’s our job. Now stay here!” He surged forwards, firing away rapidly so he could take them down before they got too close to Tosh.

Something caught her eye and Tosh saw Jack come barreling out of a nearby building with a broken door. He didn’t look that much different from the Jack she knew, but he was a bit too far for her to say for sure. He still wore the same greatcoat though.

Using the same pistols Ianto had, Jack started shooting as well. Ianto and Jack gradually made their way towards each other until they stood back to back.

Watching them, it was clear to Tosh that they were a true team. Standing so close together, they protected each other, making sure that nothing snuck up behind the other man. The screams of the dying Cetrani filled their air and Tosh winced slightly at the sound.

When Jack’s guns ran out of bullets, he dropped them on the ground, reached into his coat, and pulled out another leaner gun. It seemed to be just another regular one since it didn’t shoot the blue energy bullets but Tosh soon learned it was more than an ordinary weapon.

Ianto’s ammo ran out and he dropped his guns as well, yanking out a horrifying dagger from his coat with serrated edges all along the blade. He leaped forward to face a Cetrani charging at him, ducking down out of the way of the creature's extended arms, then jammed the blade up into its throat. With a quick slice, he tore the Cetrani’s throat wide open.

Whether he saw the other Cetrani or not, Tosh wasn’t sure. Ianto turned to face it immediately after he slew the other one but didn’t have enough time to attack properly, throwing one arm up in front of him as he swung the blade with his other. The Cetrani opened its jaws and snapped them down on Ianto’s arm hard. He let out a scream of pain even as he slammed the dagger into the Cetrani’s head as hard as he could. The Cetrani instantly let go and moved backwards, letting out a shriek of agony.

Jack grabbed Ianto around the waist with one arm as he shot the Cetrani in the head, then started to quickly drag Ianto backwards towards a building as his partner held his bleeding arm to his chest. “Tosh, close your eyes!” he yelled back to her, bumping against the wall of the building. He dropped his gun and pulled something else out of his pocket, then turned around, shielding Ianto with his own body.

The split second after Tosh squeezed her eyes shut, there was a brief but bright white flash accompanied by an explosion. When she opened her eyes, the remaining Cetrani suddenly fell over. Looking down at the scanner, she knew they were all dead when there were no more red dots on the screen. Pressing the blue button again, the force field dropped and Tosh ran over to Jack and Ianto. “Is he alright?!” she asked about Ianto.

“Ianto?” Jack asked, moving backwards so he could get a better look. Tosh could see what looked like a spray of blood along the back of Jack’s coat.

“What did you do to those things? Ianto said normal bullets couldn’t kill them,” Tosh asked as she set the scanner down, reaching out for Ianto’s arm to see what she could do to help.

“They don’t,” Jack agreed, “but those were explosive bullets.” Tosh glanced at his face for a second. He looked exactly the same but like this Ianto, he looked… older in a way she couldn’t explain well. He also looked concerned. “We need to bandage that arm,” he told Ianto. “Do you think it’s broken?”

“It’ll get better,” Ianto said firmly through gritted teeth. “I’ll be able to use it again soon. I don’t care if it’s broken.” He looked up at Jack defiantly for a moment, then grimaced. “I forgot you told me I get bit,” he said to Tosh.

Some of the concern fell away as Jack grinned. “Come on. We’ll get Owen to patch you up.” He placed a supportive hand on Ianto’s back as the other man righted himself.

“Thanks for shielding me from the exploding bodies,” Ianto told him, smiling slightly.

“Trust me, you’re not cute at all when you’re covered in guts and blood,” Jack informed his partner, leaning forward to give him a quick kiss, then winked at Tosh. “I turned off the jammer so your Bluetooth should work again. I’ll probably be trying to get a hold of you by now.”

“Here.” Ianto fished around for something in his pocket, then held her Bluetooth out to her.

She took it and put it back on, not really surprised and pleased that Jack and Ianto still seemed to be together in the future. “Thanks. Is that why our gear wouldn’t work? Because you used a jamming device? I thought it was the Cetrani,” she asked Jack.

“We used a jamming device because you told us we did before,” Jack replied simply, smirking a bit. “Isn’t time travel interesting?”

Tosh just let out a little sigh, clicking her headset on. “Jack?”

“Tosh!” Jack’s voice came over the line, clearly relieved. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” she reassured him, then looked at the Jack and Ianto in front of her. “I’ve… got quite a bit to tell you.”


	4. Chapter Three

Before Tosh could tell anything to Jack, Ianto reached out and placed a hand on her arm gently. “Let me talk to him,” he requested softly, his gaze flicking to his Jack, who nodded.

“Jack, hold on,” Tosh said, pulling off her Bluetooth and handing it to Ianto once again.

“What’s going on?” Ianto could hear Jack say. He smiled softly. Jack didn’t sound different at all.

“Jack,” he said clearly, pausing for a moment so the Torchwood leader could let it sink in.

The line was silent for ten seconds, then, “Ianto? Is that you?”

“Yes, Jack, it’s me,” Ianto confirmed. “Do you trust me?”

“But… that’s not… I just saw you! You were back at the Hub, you were - ”

“Jack,” Ianto cut him off. “Do you trust me?”

“Of course I trust you, but how - ”

“Then listen to me,” Ianto interrupted him again. “When you get half a mile away, stop. Get out of the car and wait. Let Owen and Gwen come to where Tosh and I are. Tosh is fine, I’m fine, everything’s okay. I need you to trust me now, Jack. I will answer your questions soon, but for now, trust me. Wait. Can you do that for me, Jack?”

Jack was silent again, then out a frustrated sigh. “You’d better answer whatever question I have as soon as possible, Ianto,” he snapped in irritation, clearly not happy but going to do it anyway.

“I will,” Ianto replied in a soothing tone. He heard Jack bark some orders to Gwen and Owen, then pulled off the Bluetooth, handing it back to Tosh with a grateful smile. “Thank you.”

Tosh nodded. “Not a problem.”

Ianto, his Jack, and Tosh waited for the SUV to get there. In a few minutes, they arrived, and Owen and Gwen got out looking, expectedly, shocked.

“Ianto? Jack? How did you… What’s going on? You’re hurt!” Gwen said, finally noticing Ianto’s bleeding arm.

“It’s nothing. I’ve been through worse,” Ianto assured her. “Even so, I’d… appreciate it if you could take a look, Owen,” he said to the doctor.

“Yeah… Yeah, sure…” Owen replied, gaze flicking between him and Jack. “So why do you look so different?” he asked cautiously, leaning into the SUV to get his extra medical bag he kept inside.

“Ianto and I are from the future,” Jack said for him, his face a wide grin that held a hint of sadness and a lot of pride in it. Ianto was fairly sure that the others only saw the grin, though.

“The future?” Gwen asked, but not in a ‘you’re crazy’ way. When Jack left and they’d seen footage of the blue police box nearby, Ianto had told them about the Doctor, so they knew time travel wasn’t impossible.

“No wonder you look… different,” Owen finally said, setting his bag down and reaching for Ianto’s arm as he studied his features. “Just how far in the future are you from?”

“Sorry. Can’t tell you that,” Ianto told him with a wan smile. “It’s best you don’t know.”

“He got bit by one of the Cetrani,” Tosh put in helpfully, nudging one of the dead bodies with her foot. “While I’m here… do you mind if I scan one? We haven’t seen any of them before and I don’t have them in the database,” she asked Jack.

“Go ahead. Take one of the bodies back to the Hub if you like,” Jack offered with a swoop of his arm. “So how’s his arm?” he asked Owen.

Owen looked up from the middle of poking and prodding Ianto’s arm lightly, thankfully. “Doesn’t seem to be broken. I’ll give you a shot of something that will help and wrap it up. If it doesn’t get infected… and if whatever bit you doesn’t have anything that could cause a problem by doing so, it should heal up eventually.”

“Good,” Jack replied, then abruptly hugged Owen tightly.

Owen looked a little startled, not moving for a moment, before he asked, “Er. Jack? Could you let go of me?”

Jack did as he asked and reached out to Gwen, grabbing her arm and pulling her into a tight hug next. “God, it’s good to see you guys again.” His voice was thick with emotion. He let Gwen go to hug Tosh next, then stepped back to look at them all slowly, his face full of pride. Ianto hadn’t seen him look that open in public for ages. “It’s been a really long time.” He didn’t move for a moment, then pulled Gwen into another hug.

A little smile crept over Gwen’s face as she returned the hug, patting his back lightly. “Geez, Jack, you act like you haven’t seen us in years. It can’t be that far in the future; Ianto doesn’t look that much older than he does now.” She paused, suddenly going stiff in his arms. “Does something happen to us?” she pressed worriedly.

“No!” Jack protested, finally letting her go. “No, thank god. You all live for at least a few more decades. Ianto will explain later on why he looks so young, I’m sure. Tosh, come here,” he demanded, giving her another hug. “Keep up the good work,” he told her sincerely. “You have no idea what a lifesaver you are.”

He turned to Gwen. “Keep Rhys close,” he urged gently. “Don’t ever let him go.”

“If you hug me again, Harkness, I’ll punch you were it hurts,” Owen said dryly, cleaning Ianto’s wounded arm so he could bandage it.

Jack chuckled. “Then you’re going to have to punch me.” He placed a hand on Owen’s shoulder, turning him towards him and hugging him, although loosely this time. “You’re a damn good doctor, and you’ll save many more lives in the future.” He let Owen go, looking at them all for one last time, still proud yet sad. “Stick together, all of you. Take care of each other. You’re a family. Don’t forget that.”

“Alright, who are you and what the hell have you done with Jack Harkness,” Owen pressed, looking at Tosh and Gwen with a weirded out face. Judging from their looks, he wasn’t the only one.

Ianto chuckled. “You’d better go, Jack. I’ll be back soon,” he said gently.

Jack let out a sigh, his eyes still on his old team, then turned to Ianto. “Yeah. I’m probably about ready to tear my own head off right about now,” he said in amusement, pressing a palm against Ianto’s cheek. He leaned forward to kiss Ianto, light and quick, then kissed him again, slower and deeper. “I’ll be waiting,” he replied when he finally pulled away.

Ianto nodded and Jack stepped back, then clicked a few buttons on his wrist strap. The air around him started to shimmer as he turned back to Gwen, Tosh, and Owen. “Have fun cleaning up,” he joked, then added softer, “I’m proud of you all. Goodbye.” A second and a flash of light later, he was gone.

Three heads turned to look at Ianto quizzically. “We’re… from pretty far in the future,” Ianto conceded a bit wryly. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other. You can tell Jack it’s safe to come now. Didn’t want to cause a paradox by him seeing himself.”

Gwen was still for a moment, then clicked her Bluetooth on and spoke to Jack while Owen continued taking care of Ianto’s arm, shaking his head slowly in bewilderment.

It didn’t take Jack long to get there, since he ran all the way to where they were. By the time he arrived, Owen was wrapping a bandage around Ianto’s wound, having already given him a shot.

Jack stared at Ianto in awe, unmoving. When Ianto slowly started to smile, however, he surged forward, looking like he was fully intent on kissing him. “Ah, Jack,” Ianto protested, holding up his uninjured hand to stop him. “Sorry, but I’m already taken and I refuse to cheat on you with… well, you, even if you are the same person. Sort of.”

Jack’s forehead creased in confusion. “What?”

Together with Tosh, Ianto told them all what had happened earlier, mostly from her point of view. He didn’t want to give out any more information than was necessary. “I’m from the future,” he told Jack. “It’s… quite a few years from now, decades even, and the Torchwood team is different.” A little smirk grew on Ianto’s face. “You and I are known simply as Harkness and Jones. We’re… the best agents Earth has,” he conceded.

“Wait, that’s what that Covita woman called us…” Jack realized, watching Ianto with a slightly wary eye.

“Yes. We’ve had some trouble with her before. Don’t worry, she jumped back to the point and time she left from. We were waiting. She’s dead now; you killed her,” Ianto remarked casually. “We had to be sure she killed me before we took her out.”

Jack studied him, carefully keeping his face neutral. “So you died. But you come back.”

“Yes. And don’t ask me how, not yet,” Ianto pressed before Jack could say another word. “As for the Cetrani, they got their hands on some time technology they weren’t supposed to, figured out, somewhat, how to use it, and traveled here. I’m telling you this because when I come back, you and Tosh need to tell me exactly what happened and how things happened because one day this is going to happen to us again, Jack,” he said firmly. “Things are fine now but if things don’t happen exactly the way they did tonight, the Cetrani could cause a lot of havoc. Now… Owen, Gwen, Tosh, could you please help put these on the Cetrani bodies?” He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a fistful of small button-like objects. “When I jump back, I can activate these and take the leftover bodies with me so you have less to clean up. I need to talk to Jack for a moment, privately.”

Tosh and Gwen took a loose handful of the small objects, Gwen giving Ianto a curious look before she went off. Owen made a show of grumbling about Ianto making him clean after he just patched his arm together but nonetheless did as Ianto asked, waving him off after Ianto thanked him while grinning wryly.

When they were far enough away, Jack wasted no time in asking questions. “So how do you come back?” he demanded.

Ianto smiled, chuckling slightly. “I’m not going to tell you exactly. Just trust yourself and do whatever you think or feel like you should do, or want to do,” he urged. “You’ll bring me back and our connection will be made.”

“What connection?”

Ianto paused for a moment before he said, “Jack, I love you.” He raised his eyes to look into Jack’s surprised face. “I love you in the time I come from and the me that’s lying on the autopsy table in the medbay in the Hub loves you. The next few months are going to be… difficult for me,” he admitted, “after I come back. I’m going to need your support and help. I’m going to need you to not treat me like an infant but not let me overexert myself either. There’s… going to be a connection made between us. You’re going to feel it at times and it’s going to make you feel weak and exhausted, but those times will pass. I’m from the year 4278, Jack.” He kept his eyes on the man in front of him. “This connection, it makes you mortal, yet not, and makes me immortal, yet not. I’ve died 57 times in my life, Jack, and I’ve come back because of our link. As long as one of us is alive, the other cannot die for good. Let’s say someone shot me in the head. I would die and you would know I died because you would feel mortal. You would feel tired and exhausted. If someone killed you while I was dead, you couldn’t come back. That would be it. The end. We’d both be dead. But if you’re still alive and stay alive, I’ll come back to life again. It works the same way for me if you died as well.” Ianto’s lips curled up into a little smile. “I know what it feels like, Jack, to be filled with so much energy, so much life. If I’m killed, that will go away and you’ll feel mortal again, so you’ll always know when I’ve been killed and when I’ve come back. Whenever you feel like that, don’t take any risks. My life will depend on it. If you chose to make the connection, then I need you to tell me what I’ve just told you because I won’t know what to do when you die again. I won’t know what’s happening to me. And Jack, I want you to promise me something.”

It felt odd, not being able to read this Jack’s face as well as his Jack’s. They were the same person, yet not, which was no surprise, considering there was over a 2,000 year difference between them. This Jack was looking at Ianto with a guarded face that looked like he was struggling between disbelief and acceptance. “What?” he finally asked, keeping his tone neutral.

“You… do have a choice, you know. You don’t have to, just because it’s already happened for me. If you do decide to do it, though, don’t do it because you need me. Don’t do it because you need me to be a part of the team, to run the archives, or for my knowledge. Be selfish for once. Do it because you want me. Do it because you’d miss me. Do it because I’m Ianto, not Ianto Jones, Torchwood Officer. I know what happened on the Valiant. I know what the Master did to me and I know how it affected you so I know you at least care about me a great deal now. I don’t know exactly how you feel about me now, though, so that’s why I’m saying all this. Do you understand?” he asked quietly, softly.

Jack looked at him, eyes searching his for a moment, before he nodded slowly, his face a mask even though Ianto could see the turmoil in his eyes.

“Good,” Ianto replied, keeping his voice quiet. “I’m going to go take care of the Cetrani Tosh and I ran into earlier.” He set off without another word to Jack back to where he had killed the other Cetrani. Jack stayed where he was, but Tosh saw him and followed.

“Everything alright?” she asked lightly, although Ianto could hear an undercurrent of worry.

He nodded. “Everything’ll be fine. Jack knows what to do if he wants to.”

About 30 minutes later, all the Cetrani except for one had the transporter devices on them. Ianto stood with the rest of the team in front of the SUV, ready to go back home. “You might need to retcon a few people later on,” Ianto told them knowingly. “Since Jack and I were here, they left civilians alone and focused more on us because we were the bigger threat and they knew it. Still, a few people probably saw them.” 

He turned to Owen, holding out a hypodermic needle with a yellow-green liquid inside it. “Give this to me when you get back to the Hub. It’ll cancel out the toxins Covita injected the second time she shot me.”

Owen nodded, taking it carefully.

Ianto gave them all a warm smile. “Well, Jack’s waiting for me so I’d better get back.”

Gwen stepped up to hug him tight first. “Do you really come back?” she asked, a light wistfulness in her tone.

“That’s up to Jack,” he answered honestly, hugging her back, then said quietly into her ear so only she would hear, “You and Rhys have a long and happy life together. Listen to Jack; don’t let him go.” He pulled back and gave her a kiss on her cheek then turned to Tosh, smiling brightly.

As he hugged her goodbye, he whispered, “Stay strong, Tosh. Always stay strong because one day, your daughter is going to need you to be strong for her sake. Everything you’ve been through will be worth it for her, I promise.” He kissed her cheek as well, trying to keep his grin down because of her shocked face.

He turned to Owen and raised an eyebrow, holding out a hand invitingly. Owen rolled his eyes and hugged him anyway, although much more loosely than Tosh and Gwen and he gave him a manly thump on the back at the end. Before he could pull away, though, Ianto grasped onto his shoulder and leaned forward to say quietly to him, “One day, you’ll find someone who will become your world and all your training will be worth it when you finally get to meet her.”

He let Owen go, who gave him a weird look, then turned to Jack. “Goodbye, Jack. I know you’ll do whatever you think is best.” He lifted up his wrist to activate his own wrist strap but Jack surged forward and crushed him to him tightly. Jack winced in slight pain and Ianto remembered with a jolt that he’d been shot earlier.

“2000, huh?” he asked in an odd voice, knowing only Ianto would understand he meant 2000 years in the future.

Ianto nodded, wrapping his arms around Jack firmly in return. “If you decide to go through with it, don’t forget that. We’re together then so if I should ever go away, I will come back to you. I’ll always come back to you,” he reassured in a murmur. “I’ve got to go.” He released Jack and the two men separated.

“I’m going to bring you back,” Jack said firmly, hands clenched at his sides.

Ianto only smiled before he lifted his arm to activate his wrist strap. He paused for a moment. “Oh, Jack? I need you to give myself a message. It’s very important; don’t forget it.”

Jack nodded. “I won’t. What is it?”

Ianto spoke one word, just one word, but it was so important a word that if Jack did bring him back, it would start a chain reaction that would change their lives forever. “Kriciana.”

“Krih-shaw-nah,” Jack repeated the word, making sure he had it right.

Ianto nodded, said goodbye, then activated first the transporter devices, then his own time traveling device.

One second he was standing in Cardiff, 2008, the next he was back in the year 4278 at the Torchwood Earth base with a pile of Cetrani lying in heaps on the floor around him.

“There you are!” Jack said, grabbing him and pulling him close to kiss him firmly on the mouth. Ianto grinned and brought his hands up to cup Jack’s face and kiss him back with just as much passion. Even after more than 2000 years, kissing Jack never got old. “Everything go alright?” he pressed, searching Ianto’s face.

Ianto smiled fondly. He thought about Gwen, Rhys, and their five children at a Christmas party long ago, running around and wrecking joyous havoc everywhere they went. He thought about Toshiko holding her infant daughter just after she’d been born; he’d never seen Tosh look so happy. He thought about Owen, holding his little girl in his arms, tickling her when he thought no one was looking, the strong woman who would become his wife looking on them with joy in secret as she held her baby son. He thought about the time his mind had been in utter chaos and even though he’d woken up in fear and terror, Jack had been there to comfort him and calm him down, to make sure he was alright.

“Yes,” Ianto said, pulling Jack close for another kiss. “Everything’s fine.”


	5. Chapter Four

Jack stood over Ianto’s body, stroking a hand through the dead man’s hair. His body was pale, so very pale. He hadn’t been moved from the position Jack had laid him in a few hours ago. Owen hadn’t yet used the antidote the Ianto from the future had given him, saying it would be useless if Ianto didn’t have any blood flow. The antidote wouldn’t be carried through his bloodstream.

The Ianto from the future had told Jack to do whatever he thought was right, but Jack didn’t have a clue in the universe as to what to do. Owen told him he’d tried to revive Ianto earlier to no use. His body was cold to the touch. Jack had no idea how he was supposed to bring Ianto back to life.

He’d tried kissing him first, but that had done nothing. This wasn’t a fairy tale. He’d tried talking to him but Ianto hadn’t moved, eyes closed and body still. Two hours had passed of Jack just talking to him, telling him stupid stories, stupid jokes, whispering in his ear so only he could hear if only he was alive, telling him to come back, jokingly and yet not telling Ianto he could have anything he wanted, that Jack would do anything he asked, even let him be in charge of Torchwood Three if he wanted if only he would come back.

But Ianto hadn’t moved and Jack didn’t know what to do. “He comes back,” Tosh said quietly, encouragingly. “We all saw him, he was from the future. He comes back somehow.”

“Maybe… maybe we have to wait a bit for him to wake up, like you do,” Gwen suggested helplessly.

Jack let out a humorless laugh. “He’s not immortal, Gwen. He’s not like me.”

“He hasn’t even caused a blip on the equipment, Jack,” Owen told him, motioning towards the monitors Jack had insisted Owen hook up to Ianto. “He’s dead.”

“He comes back,” Jack said through slightly gritted teeth, still stroking Ianto’s hair, staring down at him. “He comes back,” he repeated, softer but still firm.

“Ianto… The other Ianto told me it was up to you,” Gwen said to Jack.

“But he didn’t tell me how!” Jack shot back, irritated. “If I knew, trust me, Ianto would already be here again!” He just wanted Ianto to wake up. He was tired of looking down at that still face, tired of not seeing his smile, not seeing his eyes open and look at him, eyes filled with pain and loss but still strong, still pushing ahead, clinging to hope, clinging to him. He wanted Ianto back. He wanted him to wake up and kiss him and take his hand, squeeze it to let him know that he was okay, that everything was okay again because he was there.

Jack had already lost him once when he’d been on the Valiant. Jack had died so many times in his life. Being tortured to death he could handle. The Master hadn’t been able to break him… until he brought them in.

Owen struggled, trying to protect the others; he was shot in the heart right away. Owen who had saved so many lives died to save the lives of the people he cared about but it was for nothing. The second he’d been shot Jack knew it his death had been for nothing and he pictured himself ripping out the Master’s heart in revenge.

Tosh had all her fingers broken one by one, fingers that had flown so quickly over a keyboard at one time, Tosh who was so smart and so bright and so very special. She was sobbing in agony when the Master had shot her in the forehead. He pictured himself cutting off the Master’s fingers one by one, then his hands, then his feet so he couldn’t get away, then cutting him up until he was nothing but a mess on the floor for Tosh’s death. Even though he raged on the inside, he didn’t break on the outside.

Gwen he set a Weevil on and Jack watched her be mauled to death, ripped apart from limb to limb, screaming so loud he heard it ringing inside his head for weeks afterwards. He pictured himself making the Master scream like that when he cut him up, for Gwen and for Tosh now.

And then he brought Ianto in. It took days for Ianto to die. The others had been relatively quick deaths but the Master made Ianto die slowly. One cut, five centimeters deep and thirty centimeters wide, every hour, chained against the wall in Jack’s clear view. Ianto didn’t scream like Gwen. He didn’t cry like Tosh. His eyes didn’t open wide in shock like Owen. His eyes had been hard, defying, resilient against the Master, soft, open, apologetic, and loving to Jack. He saw the life slowly go out of Ianto’s eyes every cut that was made until he died from blood loss. Jack didn’t picture anything after that. He didn’t think anything. He only stared at Ianto’s body, the Master having left him where he’d died, like some kind of trophy knowing he’d finally won, that he’d finally broken Jack Harkness.

When that year had been erased and his team hadn’t died, he knew that he belonged with them, knew how much they meant to him now. Knew they were his family, however broken and make-shift it was. Knew, deep down inside, that he loved Ianto.

He’d lost Ianto once and things had been fixed and Ianto’d come back. He’d been alive and more or less alright. Jack’d lost Ianto again and he would fix things. He would bring him back again, if only he knew how.

Desperately, he searched through his memories for some hint the Ianto from the future might have given him, grasping onto anything that might help. He thought of the message that Ianto had told to give the Ianto lying in front of him, his Ianto, and knew it couldn’t hurt.

He leaned down to say clearly in the dead man’s ear, “Kriciana.”

For a second, there was nothing. Then there was an explosion as the equipment connected to Ianto’s body suddenly combusted and his eyes snapped open, sucking in air with a loud gasp.

It was quite possibly the most beautiful sound Jack had ever heard, but before he could say anything, he saw Ianto’s eyes and froze.

Wrong. All wrong. Ianto’s eyes were glowing. There were no pupils, no irises, just white.

Jack heard the others shouting, not even sure if they were talking to him or not, but he didn’t care. He was focused only on Ianto or whatever it was that was in front of him.

A second later, Ianto lifted his arms and slammed his hands over Jack’s ears. A sharp pain ripped through Jack’s head and he let out a scream, practically falling over from the sheer intensity of it. His eyes went wide for a moment then rolled into the back of his head. He felt like he might pass out.

He was helping his mother bake cookies to surprise his father with when he came home from work. He felt the pain when he accidentally touched the hot cookie tray. He felt the wet tears on his cheek as his mother soothed and comforted him, telling him it was alright, that it wasn’t a bad burn at all.

He was sitting in his father’s lap, listening to him read a story about Merlin, helping out by reading the words he knew, when policemen came to the door. His father came in later and hugged him tightly, crying and shaking. He felt the fear his father was causing by the way he was acting strange. He heard his father say Mum wouldn’t be coming home.

Image after image, vision after vision, were slammed into his mind at a rapid pace. His father had cancer. He helped his father out in the tailor shop until he had to retire because he was dying. He felt the pain and loneliness when his father died. He lived with his aunt in a city by the sea. He went to university. He was approached by someone he thought was suspicious, who told him about strange but fascinating things. He went on a tour of Torchwood and decided to join. He met Lisa. He worked his way up quickly through the ranks. He was smart. He oversaw the archives. He asked Lisa out. He realized he loved Lisa, felt the love he had for Lisa.

Memories, Jack finally got a grip on his mind enough to realize in triumph. He was seeing, feeling memories. Ianto’s memories.

He saw Canary Wharf through Ianto’s eyes, found out about the Colors, felt how desperate he was to save Lisa, how he would do anything to do so. Saw how he joined Torchwood Three, how he met Jack, what he thought about him the first time he saw him. Felt the pain he went through at losing Lisa, the stubborn determination to do anything to save her before hand, even sacrifice his own life, staring Jack down, the anger he felt for Jack just letting her die, for killing her. He felt the terror he went through with the cannibals, saw when Ianto figured out he was in love with him, felt the love Ianto had for him, felt it grow and become stronger, then almost shatter when he left, only to grow rapidly again when he returned. He felt the torment Ianto went through thinking he was dead for good when Owen shot him and again when he had been lying in a bag in the morgue for days. His mind slammed up against a mental wall, bounced off of it, then slipped around, getting a small audio only snippet of himself telling Ianto “No. This is not you. Something’s changed you. You’re not a murderer,” before the memories whisked on. He felt the fear and pain as Ianto died, then the comfort knowing he was safe in Jack’s arms.

There, the memories stopped and Jack’s mind reeled from all the information he just got. It quickly turned to panic, though, as Jack realized not only was he seeing Ianto’s memories, Ianto was seeing his. He could feel it, feel as the memories were glimpsed, being shifted through as if someone was taking a book of his life and rapidly flipping through it. Jack was much older than Ianto and so he had much more memories.

_No!_ Jack thought in a panic. _Don’t let him see, please don’t let him see the things I’ve done! Stop! I said stop it!_ It didn’t stop. _Give them back!_ he demanded again, but it was no use. No matter how much he tried to grasp onto the memories, tried to stop Ianto from seeing them, something was prying its way into his mind so deeply he could do nothing but watch helplessly as his entire life fell before Ianto’s eyes. When the memories of the Valiant got closer, Jack fought with all his might, even if it proved fruitless. He didn’t want Ianto to see himself die like that, didn’t want him to know that he was possibly Jack’s greatest weakness.

He didn’t know how much time passed, not even when, abruptly, it was over and the pain was gone. The world, which had been white before, suddenly exploded into nothing but a rainbow of colors. 

A voice that was oddly familiar, echoing inside his mind and all around him, said quietly in soft confusion, “I do not understand his love for you. You have hurt him so many times and yet he still loves you.”

“Who are you?” he demanded, twisting around to see if he could see anything, trying to place the voice. He froze. “Wait. Lisa?”

There was a pause. “No. I am not she. I needed to communicate with Ianto but do not have my own voice, therefore I used one from his memory that he would find comforting and trust.”

“Oh,” Jack replied, more than relieved. How creepy would it be to have your lover’s dead cyber girlfriend that you just so happened to kill talk to you in… where ever the hell they were.

The voice turned bitter, angry, and the colors around him suddenly shifted to complete red. “He wanted to go to her. The only way I could convince him to stay was because of you.” Her tone was accusing for a moment, then turned soft, the colors shifting to a blue. “He held on for you. He loves you in a way I do not understand.”

“Where is he?” Jack demanded, knowing she was talking about Ianto. “Who are you?”

The voice was silent for a moment, then said, “Ianto is in the blackness… but you can bring him back.”

“How?” Jack urged, feeling some hope now that he was finally getting somewhere.

“There will be a price,” the voice said slowly, almost disbelievingly, like she didn’t think Jack would agree to the terms.

“Tell me.”

“I know about you because of Ianto’s memories. I see them and know you cannot die. I sensed you near his body. I connected myself to your mind in order to speak with you. You may be the only one who can bring him back. I cannot give life to him… but I can transfer a life force. You can bring him back at the cost of your own.”

Jack was still for a moment, not because he wasn’t considering giving up his life for Ianto, no, he’d do that in a heartbeat any day, but because he wondered if this was when this so called connection was made between he and Ianto.

“I am not sure,” the voice answered, startling him as she read his thoughts. “Perhaps.”

“What do I need to do?” Jack asked quietly. He would fix things, even if Ianto would hate Jack for sacrificing himself to save him… even if Ianto hated him for the things he had done that Ianto had now seen.

There was a sharp white hot stab of pain again as Jack’s eyes flew open, body arching as he let out a loud gasp of air.

“Jack!” Gwen shouted from above him, upside down in his line of sight. “Jack, are you alright?!” She was supporting his head, holding it in her lap as he lay on the floor, shaking and sweaty.

He had a massive headache and his body felt like he’d just been thrown in a fryer, then electrocuted. He felt sick, like he just might throw up, the lights of the room too bright and blinding.

Jack had never felt better because he finally knew what to do. “Owen,” he hissed, struggling to sit up. Gwen helped him to do so, keeping her hands on his back while Owen squatted down beside him, Tosh looking on with a pale and worried face.

“What the hell was that?” Owen asked, staring at Jack, intent on looking him over to make sure he was alright. “You started screaming then just fell over and - ”

Jack reached out and snatched his wrist, squeezing a bit too hard. “The syringe. Where is it?” he demanded through clenched teeth.

“It’s around here somewhere,” he said, tugging on his arm, face twisting a little. “That sort of hurts, Jack.”

“Get it,” Jack ordered. “Now! Gwen, Tosh, help me up.” He let go of Owen, surging to his feet. He would have fallen over if Gwen hadn’t caught him and even then, he almost brought both of them down to the floor.

“What are you doing, Jack?” Gwen asked, her voice strained because of the effort of having to more or less hold Jack up.

“Just get me over to Ianto,” he said shortly. He took a step, stumbling a little but Tosh got to his side and helped Gwen support him so he could go over to the dead man.

“Here,” Owen said, holding the syringe out while eying him, half curious, half confused.

Jack took it, leaning on the autopsy table heavily. “I might fall over again,” he warned them before he leaned over and kissed Ianto open mouthed. Ianto’s body jerked and seemed to come to life, arching up off the table, eyes flying open once again and going into the back of his head. Jack jammed the syringe blindly into Ianto’s body and injected the antidote into him, feeling… something being drained out of him. He got weaker and weaker rapidly until he collapsed to the ground. Please, he begged to whatever and whoever would listen as he felt himself drift away into blackness, Please let it have worked.

*******************************************************

He woke up, once again, on the floor, although things were oddly quiet this time. Someone had taken off his greatcoat, spread it over him, and placed a pillow under his head. With a groan, he sat up, putting one hand in his hair.

“Jack?” Gwen asked, quickly appearing at his side. “Are you alright?” she pressed, searching his face worriedly.

Jack waved a hand floppily. “I’ll be fine. Ianto?” Please, he begged silently again.

Gwen’s face lit up into a gap-toothed smile. “He’s alive. I don’t know what the hell you did, Jack, but he’s alive!” She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly, giving a short, happy laugh.

Jack practically sagged against her in relief. He was alive. Ianto was alive. “Where is he? I want to see him.”

“He’s still asleep, but his vitals are all normal. Owen checked him over three times; we could hardly believe it. We moved him to the couch so he’d be more comfortable.” She cast him an apologetic look. “We didn’t have anywhere else to put you so we sort of just left you where you were,” she admitted.

“That’s fine. I’ve slept on cold floors more than once in my lifetime,” he said as he got to his feet, stretching his back and arms out. Leaning over, he scooped his greatcoat off the floor and folded it over one arm, then followed Gwen.

Ianto was lying on the couch, a soft yellow blanket draped over him and a white pillow under his head. Good. Jack wanted him to be as comfortable as possible.

Tosh rose from a chair next to his side, offering it to Jack with sweep of her arm and a smile.

“Thanks,” Jack murmured, draping his coat over the back of the chair before he sat down and took Ianto’s hand in both of his. “How long has it been?”

“Five hours and fifteen minutes or so,” Owen informed him. “Sorry I can’t be as accurate as stopwatch boy here.” Even if he meant it to be teasing, Jack could hear a hint of fondness and relief in his tone.

Jack rested a hand on Ianto’s neck, fingers feeling for a pulse. There it was, a steady beat, relaxed while he slumbered. He took comfort in the slow rise and fall of Ianto’s chest as he breathed in and out. “There’s nothing wrong with him? He’s just sleeping? You’re sure?” Jack pressed, looking at Owen.

“Positive,” Owen confirmed. “I’ve been checking him about every hour and nothing’s changed. Besides that he hasn’t woken up yet, he’s fine.”

Jack nodded. “Thank you.” 

“What did you do, Jack?” Tosh asked curiously. “You brought him back to life somehow.”

“I’ll tell you after he wakes up,” Jack said firmly in an ‘end of discussion’ tone.

He stayed besides Ianto for some time, still feeling a bit drained and exhausted himself. The others went back to work and Owen returned to check on Ianto, as well as Jack, once more. After a few hours, Jack was just starting to doze off in the chair when he heard a voice ask, “Jack?”

He sat upright immediately, leaning forward to get a look at Ianto’s face. The young man’s eyes were opening, moving around rapidly. “Jack?!” he called out again, his voice turning into one of panic.

“Ianto, it’s okay, you’re safe,” he reassured him, squeezing his hand. “It’s okay, look at me.”

Ianto was still for a moment, some of the panic on his face fading away, although he didn’t look at him. “Jack, is that you?” he asked, reaching out with his other hand to grasp onto Jack’s wrist.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Jack told him in a relieved tone, smiling. “You gave us quite a - ”

“Say something, damnit!” Ianto cut him off.

“What? Ianto, I am, can’t you hear me?” Jack asked, confused, then got the sinking feeling like something was wrong. “Ianto? Hey, look at me!” he ordered.

Ianto looked at him in a panic… no, he only turned his face towards him. His eyes were moving around, unfocused on anything, when he suddenly froze, realization slowly creeping into his features. “You are talking, aren’t you,” he said quietly. “Squeeze my hand twice if you’re talking to me.”

“I am,” Jack said quickly, squeezing his hand two times.

Ianto closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. “I can’t hear, Jack. I can’t hear anything, not the hum of the Hub, not your voice. Anything. And unless the lights are off, I can’t see either,” he informed Jack in a shaky voice, struggling not to give into fear.

Jack stared at Ianto silently in horror. He was deaf and blind. Three seconds later, he started screaming for Owen.


	6. Chapter Five

Ianto’s world was nothing but hands now. The last thing he remembered was passing out from whatever Covita had injected him with. He knew he didn’t die because he woke up again but he woke up not exactly… right. He was blind and deaf. 

Thank god he still had his sense of touch, otherwise he would probably have gone mad by now. Not that he wasn’t incredibly frustrated already. Still, it only took him a day or two to tell everyone’s hands apart. 

When Gwen would lead him, she would walk slowly, one arm wrapped half around his back, the other gripping his hand firmly. He could still speak to them but the only way they could speak to him was through their hands. One squeeze meant they were just trying to reassure him, that they were there and they would take care of him, that he would be okay. Two squeezes meant yes. Three squeezes meant no. Hands and yes and no. That was what his world had become.

Owen would grip his upper arm a bit roughly, moving faster than Gwen and only took his hand when he asked a question. Tosh was gentle, more practical, treating him like an actual blind person. She’d link their arms together, keeping her other resting lightly on his forearm. Jack led him with his arm wrapped securely around his shoulders, but, like Owen, only took his hand when he asked a question. Even with their help, he still kept on bumping into things. At the end of the first day, he’d actually shouted out in anger and kicked at what he’d just walked into, only to discover it was a desk. His foot throbbed for a while after that.

Owen ran a series of tests on him. He was poked and prodded with various instruments, lay down, got up, went here, did this, went there, and did that for what seemed like hours until he was made to sit by a pair of hands pressing down on his shoulders. He asked what was wrong with him then felt a bit foolish because there was no way they could tell him that. Instead, he asked if there was anything wrong with him. Someone squeezed his hand three times. No? How could there not be something wrong with him? After a bit of guessing and asking questions, Ianto discovered that, physically, there was nothing wrong with his body. He should be able to see and hear just fine but, for some reason, he couldn’t.

The first night, Jack drove Ianto back to his flat. Ianto appreciated it very much, although it was a bit awkward when Jack helped him out of his clothes and into his bed. He wasn’t quite sure where they were at first until he’d gotten underneath the sheets and felt the familiarity of it.

The next morning, he got up and slowly made his way to the shower. At least he knew at his flat he wouldn’t bump into anything because he never left stuff lying around. Everything had a place, which made it simple to get shampoo and conditioner in order to wash his hair. He got out and wrapped a towel around his waist, then made his way slowly back to his bedroom, using the walls as guides.

On his way back, he felt Jack put a hand lightly on his shoulder and give it a squeeze. “You don’t have to be here, Jack. I’m afraid I’m not going to be much use like this, might as well stay here instead of going to the Hub.” Here, Ianto knew his way around. He could manage being on his own in his own flat.

Jack pulled him into a tight hug, startling him for a moment, before he wrapped his arms around him in return. He smiled softly. “I’m probably getting you all wet, you know.”

Jack kissed him softly then stepped away, taking his hands and guiding him forward. Ianto let him so do without complaint. Jack pushes his hands down and Ianto’s fingers came into contact with some kind of cloth that didn’t feel like his bedspread. Feeling it, he realized it was a shirt. A quick search with his hands told him Jack had laid some clothes out on the bed for him to change into. A tiny smile slipped onto his face. “Thank you, Jack,” he said softly, understanding that Jack wasn’t going to baby him by helping him get dressed.

Jack took his hand and squeezed it, then let go so he could put his clothes on: a simple t-shirt, a shirt to go over that, jeans, and a belt. Ianto got the feeling even if he did go to the Hub and tried to do some work, Jack wouldn’t let him, otherwise he’d have left out a suit… or maybe he just wanted him to be in comfortable clothes today.

He was about to go to the kitchen and make some breakfast when Jack touched his shoulder and pressed a jacket into his hands. “Are we going somewhere?” Ianto asked, pulling it on. Jack squeezed his shoulder twice: yes.

He let Jack led him again – it was faster that way – and went to the door to get his shoes. He put on a pair of comfortable athletic shoes, hoping that they’d cushion his feet more if he bumped into things again.

Jack helped him get into the car and they drove off, probably going to the Hub. Ianto got the feeling Jack wanted him there so he and the others could keep an eye on him. The car stopped for a while but Jack left it running; Ianto could feel the vibrations of it. Not long after, a bag was placed in Ianto’s lap. Curiously, he stuck his hand inside and felt something soft and somewhat sticky: a donut. “Ah. Breakfast?” he asked with a grin. Jack squeezed his arm twice: yes. “No coffee?” Three squeezes: a no. Ianto didn’t say anything else, waiting in silence until Jack stopped driving and turned the car off.

They walked for a while, then went down an elevator. Ianto was fairly sure they were now in the Hub. He proved right when a pair of arms wrapped around him and gave him a tight hug. Ianto could tell by the physique it was a woman and when he hugged her back, he took a quick sniff, recognizing the smell of the perfume. “Tosh,” he greeted warmly.

Someone clamped a hand down on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Ianto smiled, shaking his head a little. “Owen. Is Gwen here?”

Another person enfolded him in a hug. “I’m sorry for getting frustrated yesterday,” he apologized when she let go. “This is… difficult,” he said, sounding a bit strained. He’d only been awake for a few hours and already not being able to see or hear was starting to drive him crazy. He promised himself, though, that he would do his best not to lash out at anyone helping him. It wasn’t their fault.

Jack took his hand and squeezed it reassuringly before leading him off again. Ianto could easily tell Jack’s hands apart from Owen’s. He knew Jack.

The leader of Torchwood Three stopped and turned Ianto so he was facing a certain direction, then picked up his arms and rested them on something. Ianto felt around for a moment, then paused, a genuine smile growing on his face. “The coffee maker,” he murmured. He could make coffee with his eyes closed or in the dark… or blind. He didn’t allow anyone to touch anything near it so he knew exactly where everything was and what he needed to make everyone’s favorite blend. “Thank you,” Ianto told Jack with conviction. “Thank you for not just sitting me down somewhere and not letting me do anything, for not treating me like a child. I really appreciate it, Jack.”

He reached up to grab a mug to start making the morning coffee, grasped one, and froze. He could feel the mugs but he couldn’t see which one belonged to whom. He didn’t move for a moment, frustration welling up within him but he fought it back, along with his pride, knowing he would have to ask for help much more often as long as he was like this. “Jack?” he asked softly.

A hand rested on his shoulder, letting him know Jack was still nearby.

“Will you please hand me your mug?”

Jack gave him a squeeze that lasted a second longer than necessary then pressed a mug into his hands a moment later.

With a little bit of Jack’s help, Ianto managed to make the coffee all by himself, feeling excessively pleased over such a menial task. He wasn’t an invalid. He could still do things.

Not many other things though, he soon found out. Ianto spent much of the rest of the day asking if there was anything he could do to help. He couldn’t sort papers because he couldn’t see them. He couldn’t check the computers for Rift activity because he couldn’t see them either. A pang went through him as he wondered what would happen if the team needed to go out. Someone would have to stay behind to watch him.

Jack let him feed Myfanwy. He got the different cans of food out and let Ianto mix it together in a bowl and set it down for her to eat. He continued to make coffee throughout the day with help from someone else.

He spent the rest of his time feeling restless. He’d paced for a little while, counting his steps back and forth, careful to keep to the same path, when someone sat him down on the couch. He must have been annoying them by his pacing, so he just sat there and stared up towards the ceiling… or the direction of it.

His thoughts drifted, thinking about anything and everything since there was nothing else to do. Ianto wondered if he would ever be able to see or hear again. At least he could still see the Colors so his world wasn’t pitch black.

Then something happened. Ianto blinked and for just a split second, the colors… sort of went away. They turned more into splotches. He narrowed his eyes in confusion, blinking again. Nothing. Ianto took a deep breath, concentrating, trying to replicate how his mind had been at that exact moment. It gave him something to do, finally, and he struggled with it for a while until, suddenly, something clicked. It was like a veil lifted.

It was hard to describe it. When he could see, he could see the world in front of him but also see the Colors. Now that he couldn’t see anything, he focused more on the Colors. Ianto wondered if, somehow, he was able to switch his vision between the real world and the Colors because he should see black if he was blind. He’d never tried it before because he hadn’t needed to. He tried switching back and forth between the blackness and the Colors and after a while, he got the hang of it.

Then he stopped in between. It was hard at first, trying to use both vision and yet not at the same time, but he finally managed it. What he saw both confused him and overjoyed him.

The splotches he saw were moving. They were elliptical in shape, long vertically but not very wide horizontally. They shifted in colors, the same colors that Ianto saw. One of them seemed to glow brighter than the others. Ianto got to his feet and started to slowly make his way over to the brighter one. It didn’t move as he walked towards it; in fact, it started heading towards him.

Ianto sucked in a quiet, nervous breath as it neared him… then jumped slightly when a hand rested on his shoulder. He reached up and took the hand in between his own, feeling the fingers, the palm, the wrist… “Jack,” he breathed out, marveling at what he was seeing. The colors in front of him shifted mostly to blue. Anxiety. A huge smile slid onto his face as he started to breathe quicker in excitement. “Jack, I can see your colors. You’re nervous. … No, you’re worried about me, aren’t you?” Two squeezes of his hand: yes.

Ianto couldn’t help throwing back his head and letting out a joyful laugh. “I can see you! Your colors, your emotions.” He twisted around, looking at the other beings made of colors and saw that they were coming towards him. “I can see all of you!” he cried out, like a child who’d just opened up a birthday present to find out it was something they’d been craving for a long time. He realized that they’d all think he was crazy, not knowing what in the world he was talking about, so he launched into an explanation.

“Listen to me. I need you to trust that what I’m telling you is the truth. When I worked for Torchwood London, at the Battle of Canary Wharf, something… happened to me. I don’t know what and I don’t know how, but I suddenly saw colors, emotions. I can see my own emotions as colors in my mind.” He pressed on, explaining the colors to them, what each one meant, how he was somehow able to see both them and see the real world around him… He didn’t mention that he thought it might be some sort of alien presence residing inside him. He’d save that for later. Ianto had had quite enough of Owen poking and prodding him with his equipment.

“Right now, I’ve somehow… managed to see in between them, like an overlap of sorts. I see black, but I can see you all moving around. You’re all just… colors. But I can see you,” he insisted.

Jack touched his shoulder and squeezed it twice. Yes. Jack believed him.

Ianto’s joy was short-lived, however. He still couldn’t see inanimate objects around him. There was still nothing he could really do. Now, though, he didn’t just sit around. He concentrated on watching the others, trying to see if he could focus on them more, wondering if they would start to appear more humanoid in shape. Hours must have gone by and Ianto exhausted himself. To his pride, however, he’d managed to be able to make out arms and legs… almost like how the ghosts were before they materialized into the Cybermen, but these, these were so different. These ghosts were not ghosts, they were his teammates, his friends, and they were alive, so alive and made completely of gorgeous, beautiful colors.

He wasn’t sure how long it had been but suddenly Jack was in front of him and reaching out with his hands. Ianto took them and let Jack pull him to his feet. He noticed that Jack was… brighter than the others, his colors shining more greatly. Ianto reached out a hand towards the top of the mass of colors and felt his fingers gently touch Jack’s cheek. He slid his hand forward to cup Jack’s face, smiling softly. “What are we doing now?” Lowering his hand, he felt the coarse material of Jack’s coat. “Are we going somewhere?”

Jack wrapped one arm around his shoulders, squeezing his arm twice and Ianto went with him willingly. Eventually, they returned to Ianto’s home. Jack led Ianto to the kitchen and sat him down. He watched as the colors that were Jack moved around in front of him, wondering what he was doing until Jack pushed a bowl into his hands. It was empty, but Ianto got the picture. “Time to eat?” Two squeezes: yes.

Some time later, Jack pushed a bowl of spaghetti under Ianto’s nose. Ianto could tell it smelled pretty good. “I didn’t know you could cook,” he noted in amusement. Jack playfully cuffed him lightly on the head, then sat down across from him, presumably to eat a bowl for himself. “Is it night then?” No. “So you brought me home just to eat?” Yes and no. “You brought me home to eat and do something else?” Yes. The colors in front of him shifted mostly to blue. “Don’t worry about me, Jack,” Ianto told him softly. “Even if… if I’m like this forever, though god, I hope not, I’ll manage. Because I have you. I’ll manage, somehow. I won’t give up as long as you help me, okay?” Yes: two firm squeezes and a gentle touch to the face.

Ianto finished eating then insisted on washing the dishes. It was something he could do without help. He washed everything even though he had a perfectly good dishwasher. Jack lingered around for a while then moved away from him… and suddenly vanished.

Startled, Ianto froze for a moment then whirled around. “Jack? Jack!” he cried out desperately. He couldn’t have just disappeared.

Jack appeared just as fast as he had vanished, moving towards Ianto quickly and putting his hands on his shoulders. Ianto gripped his arms tightly, getting soapy water on his shirt. “You just vanished all of a sudden,” Ianto told him in relief. “I thought… I don’t know what I thought. You were just gone.”

Jack was still for a moment, then pulled Ianto forward. He placed his hands on the wall then moved away again, vanishing just like before. Mind working fast as his brain processed what was going on, Ianto used the wall as a guide to move into the doorway. There was Jack. Ianto let out a huge sigh of relief. “Good. I’m not losing my… my color sight or whatever it is. I just can’t see through walls. And here I thought I was some sort of superman,” he joked, laughing a little.

Jack moved forward and took Ianto into his arms, holding him close. Ianto hugged him in return, patting his back a little. “I’m fine, Jack; I’m sorry if I startled you. This has never happened to me before so I’m not quite sure what I can see and not see.”

The other man reached up and placed a hand on his cheek, kissing him softly and slowly. Ianto responded in kind, inwardly feeling glad that Jack wasn’t going to push him away as far as their physical relationship went because he was blind and deaf. They stood in the hallway of Ianto’s flat, kissing slowly and leisurely for a while until Ianto pulled back with a gasp. “I left the water in the sink running!”

Jack started to shake all of a sudden and Ianto’s face creased in worry. “Are you alright? You’re shaking. Wait… Wait, Jack are you… laughing?” he asked, eyes widening slightly in realization. Jack reached down and squeezed his bum twice. Ianto let out a yelp and swatted at him, backing up until he bumped into the wall. “What was that for?! … Wait a minute…” Ianto let out a groan of exasperation; Jack was just being cheeky in his answer of yes. “Jack Harkness, you are horrible.”

Jack moved forward, pressing him against the wall and trapping him with his body, still shaking. “I can feel you laughing,” Ianto said softly, marveling at how he was still able to communicate with people without the use of his full sight and hearing.

Jack stopped shaking and kissed him slowly, firmly, and deeply once, then again, pressing more against him the second time.

“Don’t you have to be back at the Hub?” Ianto asked, a little breathless.

Jack kissed him three times in a row quickly. No.

“Aren’t you getting creative,” Ianto murmured, reaching up a hand to gentle touch his cheek. “Well, if you’re sure you don’t need to go back to the Hub… Take me to bed?” Ianto asked somewhat shyly, suddenly feeling anxious. What if Jack thought him too fragile to sleep with? That was utterly ridiculous, of course, but Ianto wasn’t sure if Jack – 

Oh. Two long, slow, passionate kisses. Yes.

“Good,” Ianto murmured against his mouth, feeling Jack’s breath on his lips. “Would you please shut the faucet off so the flat doesn’t flood while we’re in bed?”

Ianto felt Jack’s answering chuckle vibrating in his chest and in Ianto’s mouth as he kissed him quiet.

********************************************************

Jack sighed, running a hand through his hair as he watched Ianto sleep. He was worried. Really worried. Owen had said there was nothing physically wrong with Ianto whatsoever. It was like some mysterious force was not letting him use his eyes and ears… and now this color stuff? Jack got the feeling that there was something much deeper going on and Ianto was right in the middle of it. He’d researched everything he could, trying to find anything about these colors Ianto saw, but he’d come up with complete blanks. Torchwood or UNIT had never encountered anything like it before.

When Torchwood London fell, he’d sent two members of his team to scavenge what they could. Toshiko had swiped quite a bit of computer information… and there was one folder Jack ran into when he searched for Ianto’s name. It was a folder labeled 1988 LIGHT JONES. Ianto would have been 5 years old in 1988. Maybe it had something to do with him; it wouldn’t hurt to try… but he hadn’t been able to get it open. He’d ask Toshiko about it later; they’d never come across something she couldn’t hack into. 

He had to admit, this whole situation did have some perks. Not being able to see or hear made Ianto’s sense of touch much more sensitive. They hadn’t had good sex like that for a while, it seemed. Ianto was quite loud when he didn’t know what he was saying, Jack thought with amusement.

He’d brought Ianto back to his flat to get some rest and if he helped speed up the process while getting a bonus out of it, well, he wasn’t going to pass it up. Earlier, Ianto’d look exhausted. Jack hoped he wouldn’t overexert himself trying to control this newfound ability he had. He also still had no way of telling Ianto about their connection.

In the flat and in the Hub, Jack could keep an eye on him, take care of him, but inside Ianto’s own mind…? He was worried. He wasn’t sure if he could make a connection to Ianto like he had before… and he still had no idea what Kriciana was. He was worried. Really worried… and he got the tiniest suspicion that things would only get bad before they would get better.


	7. Chapter Six

It only took a week for Ianto to sharpen the colorful humanoid shapes he saw so that he was able to see them in more detail. If someone held a hand out to him, he could see their fingers; their hand was no longer just a blob that was apart of the line that was their arm. He could see when someone bent their elbows or legs, when they shrugged, whether they were sitting or standing or holding something. However, he still couldn’t see the world around him, only the colors. He couldn’t hear either.

Ianto started to slowly get used to it. He didn’t mind asking a lot of questions. Even though he couldn’t hear his own voice, he knew what he was, hopefully, saying and it helped a little to talk because the silence drove him crazy at first.

Jack had him stay at the Hub or, if he drove him home, stayed overnight at Ianto’s flat. Normally, Ianto probably would have been a little annoyed and want more space but he was grateful for Jack always being near. He did his best not to let it get to him, to cope as much as he could, but he felt better knowing Jack was always nearby, unless he went out on a mission. If that happened, someone, usually Tosh, stayed behind with him while she worked the computers and communications.

The team tried to find all sorts of little odd jobs for Ianto to do. He feed Myfanwy, still made the coffee with help, held tools for Owen while he worked in dissecting some alien – Ianto was secretly glad he couldn’t see that – and other small but simple things.

He spent most of his free time when he wasn’t helping out trying to focus more on the colors of the others. Ianto felt a bit like a counselor. When Owen was mad about something, Ianto would go over to him – slowly, so he wouldn’t trip – and try to figure out what was wrong. When Toshiko was feeling upset, he’d go and sit with her, silently sometimes or just casually chatting. When Gwen was happy about something, he’d ask her about it or say he was glad she was feeling that way. Jack was a bit of a problem, though. Jack was more or less worried, more the latter after time went by, but he always seemed to be worried when Ianto could see his colors. He’d tried to reassure him that he was fine, that he was still alive and that’s what matter but he got the feeling there was something Jack wanted to tell him but couldn’t. Ianto had asked him about it before but after guessing about a number of things, he couldn’t get the right answer so Jack had brushed it off.

The others made a better effort to keep the Hub floor clean so Ianto could walk around carefully by himself. He made mental notes how many steps it take to get to a certain place, where the stairs where, where Jack’s office was, and etc. His hands became his eyes for landmarks around the Hub and the others were careful not to leave stuff around he might touch that might hurt him.

A month and a half went by and Ianto was surprised and secretly pleased when he realized he could read the others’ emotions better the more he focused and practiced doing so. He knew that Owen was mad because he couldn’t find his wallet, he knew that Tosh was upset because she was feeling lonely, he knew that Gwen was happy because she’d had a good date with Rhys the night before, and he knew Jack was worried about him because he wondered if Ianto would ever be able to see or hear again. The colors became a sort of language to him and as time went by, it only took him at the most three tries to guess what exactly what they were feeling and thinking about… like they were speaking to him through their emotions and he could understand what they were saying because of their colors. It was odd and Ianto didn’t completely understand how or why it was happening but it was.

He also learned that he could influence others’ emotions as well. He first realized it after an impromptu private meeting between himself and Jack in his office. When he left, he was feeling very good and happy. Tosh was upset about something but when Ianto walked by, her colors gradually bled from blue to green when he stopped to ask her what was wrong. It happened again on a few other occasions and Ianto slowly learned to control it. Not very well, but enough so that he wasn’t forcing his emotions onto other people without realizing it. It made him feel like he was controlling them and he disliked that feeling immensely.

Two months, three weeks, and five days after Ianto woke up blind and deaf, he was at the Hub with Tosh, sitting beside her and watching her colors, talking to him without speaking. The others were out on a mission. Ianto, by watching Tosh, understood that it was something they’d fought before, something they were familiar with. He’d guessed that they were out hunting Weevils on the loose and Tosh had confirmed his guess with a nod of her head. She had to exaggerate it a bit so Ianto could clearly see it but at least they didn’t have to squeeze his hand so much anymore to tell him yes or no.

At first, the others had been a bit creeped out by how well Ianto started to be able to read them but they’d more or less adjusted by now. If they wanted to be left alone, Ianto could tell and did so out of respect for their privacy. He’d gotten used to things being the way they were, dealing with his loss of sight and hearing, but when he suddenly lost something else, it threw him off kilter completely.

Ianto had no idea how or why he knew, but one second he was sitting next to Tosh calmly, trying to understand as much as possible what was going on, and in the next, he was on his feet, having knocked his chair over without knowing it, realizing that something had just gone horribly wrong.

“Something’s wrong with Jack,” he said, his heartbeat quickening, sweat breaking out on his forehead as he panicked. “I… I think he’s dead.” He felt weak and tired all of a sudden, and actually collapsed to his knees on the floor. “I felt it. I felt him die. He’s dead.”

Tosh was kneeling by his side in an instant. He could tell she was worried about him… but she didn’t seem to be surprised by his panic attack. “What’s happening? Is he dead?”

Tosh squeezed his shoulder twice, then kept it there, reassuringly.

Ianto surged to his feet, all but bowling her over, as desperation swept through him. “I have to see him. I have to go to him now.” He started to head towards the direction of the door… or where he was fairly sure it was, walking fast and with purpose, holding his hands out in front of him so he wouldn’t bang into anything.

Tosh grabbed onto his suit, attempting to pull him back.

“I have to go to him now, Tosh!” Ianto protested, simply slipping out of his jacket and continuing on.

Tosh grabbed onto his shoulder again, squeezing it twice. Ianto shrugged it off and kept on going, ending up bumping against the wall. He swore in frustration and used the wall to feel his way, trying to get to the door. He didn’t understand why he’d just felt Jack die, like Jack was almost dead for good and he wasn’t going to come back. This thought drove Ianto and he wouldn’t stop until he could feel Jack in his arms, could see his colors.

Tosh latched onto his arm firmly and moved in front of him, blocking his way. Ianto tried to move around her once more but she gripped his hand tightly, squeezing twice again. Ianto could see her desperation.

He paused. Was she telling him yes…? “Are you taking me to Jack?”

She answered back yes, and Ianto saw the relief sweep through her in her colors.

Ianto waited impatiently, watching her move around the Hub, then saw her hold out something to him. He took it, feeling cloth and recognizing it as his coat. Wordlessly, he slipped it on over his waistcoat, not caring where his suit jacket was. All he wanted was to get to Jack.

Tosh led him out to the car and they were driving shortly. Ianto kept on clenching and unclenching his hands in nervousness, seeing nothing but blue and purple in his mind. Tosh must have noticed because she rested one of her hands over his for a moment before putting it back on the wheel.

Then, just as quickly as it had happened, Ianto felt a surge of energy, of life, of some… connection re-establishing itself between Jack and him and he knew Jack had just come back to life. He must have gasped out loud, he wasn’t sure, but Tosh reached out to take his hand again, holding it firmly for a few moments.

“I’m alright,” he reassured her. “I think I felt… Did Jack just come back to life?”

Tosh didn’t move for a moment, then squeezed his hand twice, confirming it.

Ianto let out a sigh of relief, then a startled yell when Tosh suddenly slammed the breaks on. His seatbelt kept him from flying forwards and crashing into the window. “Tosh, what - ” he started to ask, looking at her and watching fear spread through her colors like wildfire. He saw something else and turned to focus on it.

Ianto’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He was seeing something that seemed like a human because he could see someone made of colors in front of him only the colors were… more raw, primal, less complex than a humans. He saw fear and rage. Then others with the same emotions and colors came into view. Ianto twisted his head, looking around them. There were many others and they were getting closer.

Tosh fumbled at his side with his seatbelt, unbuckling him, then tugged on his hand. “Are those Weevils?” Ianto asked incredulously.

Tosh froze for a moment, then answered yes.

“I can see them,” Ianto murmured in amazement. “I can see their colors.” He was abruptly brought out of his awe by the feeling of some things that were small and sharp cutting into the skin of his face. He cried out, turning his head away, then let out a yelp when he felt something sharp sink him in the arm. Swiveling his head, he came face to face with a red haze of colors. A Weevil must have broken the car window and bit into his arm. Ianto lashed out with his fist, punching the Weevil in the face as hard as he could. The Weevil tore itself away literally, taking some of Ianto’s coat and skin with it.

Ianto backed up, feeling Tosh grab onto his shoulder and attempt to drag him into the back of the car. He ignored the pain in his arm, scrambling as fast as he could and hoped to god there were weapons in the vehicle they were in. Jack and the others probably had the SUV.

He got halfway back when he felt claws dig deep into his ankle. With a cry, he was yanked out of the car, banging his head against the seat as he was dragged backwards. Tosh’s fingernails raked his hand as she attempted to get and keep a hold of him but he slipped free. Ianto tried to get a grip on the seat but the Weevil jerked him away. He landed on the ground unceremoniously and immediately tried to get to his feet, stumbling on his wounded ankle.

That was what cost him. The Weevil grabbed hold of him and he felt teeth tearing into his shoulder. He was sure he screamed even though he couldn’t hear it, feeling nothing but intense, burning pain as the Weevil ripped skin away. The colors in front of him suddenly surged purple then just… vanished but Ianto could still feel the body. The sudden dead weight knocked him off balance and he fell to the ground, the Weevil pinning him down. Tosh must have found a weapon and killed it.

Fighting down his fear, Ianto sucked in deep breaths, making his breathing go from fast to slow as he sought to calm himself. It wouldn’t help any to panic, even though he was already starting to feel lightheaded. He looked up and saw a circle of Weevils just… standing around him. Ianto narrowed his eyes in confusion. Why weren’t they ripping him to shreds? He tried to see Tosh, to make sure she was alright, but the Weevils were blocking his color sight, they were so close. One leaned its face right down in front of his. Ianto could smell its awful breath and flinched, tilting his head away. The Weevil jerked back, surprise rushing through it before curiosity replaced that.

Ianto was still for a moment, then figured it was worth a shot. He tried to focus on the Weevil, to read its colors. It was hungry… and frightened… but curious. Something was up above the surface that kept on… growing? Every day, it grew and got bigger. It had been close by just now and the Weevils came to the surface, intent on getting a look at it, to judge if it was a threat or not. The thing seemed to have a protector and they had tried to get it away from the protector but one of them had been killed. Now they were looking at the thing in awe as it glowed different shifting colors.

Ianto’s eyes widened. Him. They’d felt him and came to the surface to judge if he was a threat to them or not. They could, somehow, sense him. And if they could sense him…

Ianto squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated. No… No, that wouldn’t work. He relaxed, trying to get into a calm mood. He had to be calm to make them calm, he couldn’t just make them calm. He had to accept that he could very well be ripped apart into shreds at any moment, had to accept that death might come soon. He forced himself to push past his fear, reaching out to the Colors, grasping them, asking them to help. The Colors swirled green and they helped him to let go. Ianto breathed in slowly then attempted to push his emotions out and into the Weevils to try and influence them. Hopefully he could get them to leave.

It didn’t work exactly the way he hoped but the Weevils seemed to get the message he was not a threat. Warily, they backed away and slowly slinked off. He could see Tosh standing nearby but she wasn’t moving, awe swirling through her colors. Ianto got the feeling she was starting at him for a moment, then she moved forward quickly and dropped to her knees beside him.

She slipped a hand under his back, attempting to help him sit up, but her hand bumped his bleeding shoulder and he let out a loud, pain-filled gasp. Maybe it had something to do with his injuries. Maybe it had something to do with straining his odd emotional abilities in a way he hadn’t tried before. Maybe it was a combination of both, but whatever it was, Ianto promptly passed out.

When he slowly came to, he was in someone’s arms and he could hear voices arguing.

“Owen, have you gotten that medicine yet, I don’t want him to wake up in pain!” Jack snapped, his voice coming from above him. Jack was the one holding him, he realized. “What the hell do you mean ‘he was glowing’, Tosh?” he demanded.

“I’m telling you, after I shot the Weevil in the head, he just… started glowing! And the other Weevils stood there staring at him!” Tosh exclaimed.

“Was it a white light glowing or something else?” Gwen put it.

“Colors. It was a dark purple but then it changed to green after a few moments,” Tosh told her. “Ianto said that dark purple was pain and fear and that green was happiness. Maybe… maybe when he experiences extreme emotions, he glows?” she suggested.

“Yeah, Tosh, I’m sure he felt happy when the Weevils were tearing into him,” Owen said sarcastically, his voice coming closer. “Hold out his arm, Jack.”

“Of course he wasn’t happy, I didn’t say that, I said he was glowing green,” Tosh protested.

Ianto let out a groan. Their voices were so loud, like they were being amplified by a speaker.

That got them quiet for a second.

“Ianto?” Jack pressed, resting a hand on his cheek. “You’ll be okay. Owen, give him the painkillers now!”

“Jack,” Ianto said, gritting his teeth together in pain. He felt a needle prick into his arm.

“Ssssssh, ssssh,” Jack soothed. “It’s okay, I’m here. God, I wish I could explain things, you’re probably wondering what the hell just happened.”

“Jack,” Ianto repeated, firmly.

“Tosh, I told you not to take him out of the Hub!”

“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t exactly stop him! He was going to walk out of the Hub, blind, deaf, or not to get to you, Jack! You should have seen the look on his face; what was I supposed to do, put the Hub into lockdown?”

“Let’s just get him back there so we can fix him up,” Gwen said in an attempt to stop the needless bickering.

“Jack. I’ll be fine,” Ianto protested. “The painkillers are kicking in. Thank you, by the way, Owen.”

“I’m going to pick you up, sorry if I jostle you a bit,” Jack apologized, hefting him into a better grip in his arms.

”Okay,” Ianto replied, wondering when they would realize he was answering them.

Jack froze and silence reigned once more. “Ianto?”

Finally. Ianto smiled. “Yes, Jack. I can hear you.”

************************************************************

Ianto stared at the colors that made up Jack in utter amazement, actually speechless. “So let me get this straight,” he said slowly, after a moment. “I died. I actually died.”

“Yes.”

“And a future version of us showed up and gave everyone messages?”

“And told me to tell you ‘Kriciana’, yes.”

“You did something and now we’re connected? That’s why I felt you die? And when I die, you’ll feel it? And if we both die before one of us comes back, we’re dead for good?”

“Yes.”

“And apparently I glow at random times?”

“Apparently. Maybe Tosh was right and it’s when you feel extreme emotions.”

“Do I glow when we’re having sex?”

“Uh. Not literally, no.”

“Then that rules that out.”

Jack laughed. “I guess so. I’m just glad you can hear again.”

“It’s strange,” Ianto admitted. “Like my hearing is hypersensitive. Everything seems so loud. I believe it will fade as I adjust to being able to hear again. I’m hoping this means I’ll be getting my sight back soon. At least I can help out a bit more by being able to listen.”

“Oh no. You got attacked by a Weevil. I don’t want you lifting anything until your shoulder is healed and I don’t want you walking around on that bad leg either. You can either let us help you around, or we can get a wheelchair for you.”

Ianto scowled.

Jack chuckled again. “I take it that means no to the wheelchair. Tell you what, if you promise to keep off that leg, then I’ll agree to letting you work on cases but only vocally, not doing anything physically. Otherwise I’ll take you to the hospital and you can heal there.”

Ianto rolled his eyes. “Fine. That’s what I meant anyway.”

“Good. Right now, though, I want you to get some rest. Maybe because we’re connected you’ll heal faster like I do,” Jack mused, getting to his feet. Ianto secretly took joy in not just seeing Jack standing but also hearing the scrap of the chair as he pushed it back. “I’ll help you down to my bunker; it’ll be quieter there than the couch. I don’t want us waking you up now that you can hear again.”

“Alright.” The painkillers were making him feel a little loopy.

Jack helped him down to the bed and handed him a pair of pajamas so he didn’t have to sleep in the new suit he’d changed into. He’d probably have to buy a new coat since his current one was ripped badly.

Wordlessly, Ianto changed into the pajamas, not caring that Jack was watching him. Ianto listened to him breath, loving every second of it. He slipped under the covers and Jack helped him get into a comfortable position that wouldn’t jar any of his wounds.

“I’ll come back to check on you every other hour or so,” Jack said, resting a hand on his head lightly.

“Mmm,” Ianto hummed, already feeling himself start to drift off. Jack stayed with him until he was almost asleep, his mind thinking about what Jack had just told him.

It seemed almost crazy but Ianto didn’t doubt Jack for a second. He wondered what the message his future self had given Jack to give to him meant though. _Kriciana_ , he mused, mulling it over in his head.

And something answered back, not in words, but pure colors… and he understood what it was saying.

_Ianto._


	8. Chapter Seven

“Tosh, have you gotten that file that might be on Ianto cracked open yet?” Jack asked, his hands braced on the back of Tosh’ chair as he watched her work.

“Not yet, but I’m pretty close,” Tosh informed him.

“Make it a priority. If it has anything to do with him and what might be going on with these colors he sees, I want to know.”

She nodded. “I’ll get right on it.”

“Jack?” a voice asked softly.

The Captain turned around, surprised to see Ianto standing there. He opened his mouth to speak but his mouth dropped open in shock. Ianto was glowing. There was a shifting rainbow aura of colors all around him and it looked like his eyes were made completely of the colorful light.

“Ianto?” Jack asked incredulously.

“I am sorry. I know he is injured but I can only communicate with you when his mind is asleep.”

Jack’s eyes narrowed. “Who are you, what do you want, and why are you using Ianto.”

“My name is Kriciana. I found Ianto. I mean him no harm, I swear. I only wanted to help him but now I do not know how to leave him,” Ianto – or the thing that was using Ianto’s body and Ianto’s voice – said. “I talked with you once, to save his life. I forged the connection you now share. I had to use Lisa’s voice because I have no physical voice of my own.”

“Okay…” Jack said slowly, glancing at Tosh for a second. She looked just as bewildered and shocked as he did. “What are you? And what do you mean by you can’t leave him?”

“I… do not know how to explain what I am. Ianto, before he knew my name, called me the Colors. It is how my people communicate, through the colors of our emotions. We have no physical form. We simply… are. I apologize for Ianto’s loss of senses. It was the fastest way for him to learn to communicate with me. By taking away his sight and hearing, he could focus more on learning the language of my people so I could speak with him.”

“Alright. So make him be able to see again,” Jack pressed.

“I cannot. I do not know how, otherwise I assure you, I would have done so already. I have seen Ianto’s life and I have seen yours. Do not fret, I have kept your life from him so he does not know any of it except that which he has been apart of. I have seen you show mercy to those who do not have hostile intentions. I ask for you help. I want to go home,” Ianto-Kriciana explained.

“How did you find Ianto?” Jack asked, watching him… her… it, whatever, carefully.

“My people can travel through the Void. We can go to different universes. We can feel the emotions of it. I… found something crossing the Void. I was curious, so I investigated it. It was something that connected two different universes. Two universes should never connect. I went to one, then went to the other. The latter, I could not bring myself to leave. So much pain. So much fear. People were dying, being destroyed, ripped apart. I could not leave them, not when I could help, not when I could comfort them. I felt them all. Those that were not dying were running for their lives, intent on saving themselves. But Ianto was different. Everyone else was trying to get away, to get outside, but not him. He had no fear for his own safety. He was the only one staying inside, staying behind to try and find someone he loved so he could help her, save her.”

“Canary Wharf,” Jack murmured, putting the pieces together.

“Yes, that was the place,” Ianto-Kriciana confirmed. “I went to Ianto, bonded with him so I could try and soothe him, calm him down. He found her, his Lisa, but she was already being converted. Still, he got her out. He refused to let her die, refused to lose her. He did all he could to give her her life back, even at the cost of his own. That was how I met Ianto. After I knew he would be alright, I tried to leave him. If we are apart of a host for too long, it becomes… difficult for us to separate after so long a time. But I, for the first time, could not separate myself from Ianto. I do not understand why.”

Jack ran a hand down his face, taking all this new information in with a heavy sigh. So Ianto had been host to an alien for, well, years now. Wonderful. At least it hadn’t hurt him. Yet.

“I would never hurt Ianto,” Ianto-Kriciana snapped, the colors around him suddenly changing to red. “Unlike you.”

Crap. She could probably read his emotions like Ianto had, except since she actually spoke that way, she could probably tell exactly what he was thinking. It was a bit unnerving, actually. “If I have ever hurt Ianto, it was never done to intentionally hurt him, I can promise you that,” Jack said firmly.

“I understand love, Jack Harkness, but I do not understand this… different kind of love. Perhaps it is because I do not quite understand what a mate is. I have family that I love but no… other kind of family. Ianto thinks of you as his lover. I do not understand this. Your species and several others need a mate to have children. My people simply split a part of themselves away from them to create another one of us. There is no need for another to join in the process. This love Ianto has for you… it is different than what I know. But the fact of the matter is he does love you and if you share his feelings, then I do not understand why you would leave him.” Ianto-Kriciana’s voice had grown hard and sharp by the time he finished speaking. “No one in my family would ever leave all of us willingly.”

“I had to do something,” Jack protested, a little annoyed. “I intended to come back.”

“Yes, your Doctor. I have seen your memories. I know, Jack. But you left willingly with no explanation, no note, no contact, nothing. If you love him, you wouldn’t have just left him like that,” Ianto-Kriciana argued.

“I’m a human. I make mistakes and I’m sorry for leaving the way I did,” Jack shot back. “But I came back. I came back for him and if you’ve looked into my memories, then you know I’m telling the truth.”

Ianto-Kriciana was quiet for a moment before he spoke again. “I have felt his pain, Jack, felt his fear at losing you, wondering if you would ever come back. He finally had a place he belonged, someone that he loved, somewhere he felt needed. And you took that away from him the second you left. Took away all his hope, crushed him again. I still do not understand why you did such a thing. I cannot forgive you for it. But… I feel Ianto.” His voice grew softer as it lost its bite. “I am apart of him now. I cannot bring myself to hate you because of his affection for you. But I swear, Jack Harkness, if you ever hurt him again, then I will take him away, walk him through the Rift, and you will never see him again,” he threatened.

Jack instantly went into alert, tensing up at that threat. “He would never let you.”

“He wouldn’t have a choice. He is a human and all humans have to sleep. I can control his body as I am now. I mean him no harm and I wish to keep him from harm. I do not wish to take him away from his home and the people he loves but I will do so if even one of them hurts him purposefully again. As long as I am apart of him, you do not have a choice in the matter. So I am warning you, Jack Harkness, and your team of Torchwood. Do not hurt Ianto again or I will take him away. I swear to this.”

“I swear that I will never, would never, and have never hurt Ianto intentionally just for the sole purpose of hurting him, and I know my team would swear to that as well. I can vouch for them all. You may be apart of Ianto but he’s apart of us too, our team. Our family. And we look out for each other,” Jack insisted. “Now give him back. Now.”

“He is supposed to be sleeping.”

“I changed my mind.”

“When I go back into his mind, he will still be asleep. He will not stand upright. I will go back to the bed.”

“You’re staying right there and you’re reverting back this second. Am I making myself clear?” Jack snapped, walking towards him. “Let him go right now.”

Ianto-Kriciana smiled slightly. “You are growing increasingly nervous. I assure you, Jack, there is no need to be afraid of me or what I might do to Ianto. I have no reason to harm him and my intentions are not hostile at all.”

“You’re controlling him and just threatened to take him away. I don’t take to kindly to threats about people I care about.” Jack stopped in front of him and held out his arms. “Don’t make me repeat myself. I’ll catch him.”

Ianto-Kriciana actually rolled his eyes before he closed them. A second later, he dropped like a stone. Jack caught him and carefully eased him down to the ground.

“Let me take a look at him,” Owen said, hurrying forward to kneel next to them and take Ianto’s wrist. Jack glanced over to see Gwen standing not too far away, looking worried. He wasn’t surprised Owen and Gwen had come over to see what was going on. Ianto had been glowing, very brightly too. The glow, however, was gone now and had vanished the second Ianto-Kriciana had closed his eyes. “He’s alright, just unconscious,” Owen affirmed, his fingers over his pulse.

“Good,” Jack said, not letting relief seep through him until he was sure it was actually Ianto in control now. He tapped the side of Ianto’s face with his hand, hoping to wake the other man. Blue eyes opened to stare up at him.

“Jack?” Ianto asked somewhat groggily, then paused a moment. “Am I on the floor?”

Jack sighed in relief, leaning down to kiss his forehead quickly. “Have you met Kriciana yet?”

*******************************************************************

A fortnight later and Ianto was more or less healed up. Jack had been right about their connection and Ianto did indeed heal faster now. His ankle had mended after a few days and his shoulder was no longer feeling sore after the wound had gone away. Kriciana hadn’t shown up again either. Ianto told Jack that yes, he could talk to her and asked her not to do that again. He also assured Jack that yes, she was a little protective of him – ‘a little?’ Jack had scoffed – but he also knew Jack would never hurt him purposefully.

It was odd, now that he could communicate with Kriciana. He could feel her, feel the Colors as he always did, and she only spoke to him when he spoke to her first out of respect of the privacy of his mind, but it was still… odd, knowing there was indeed something living inside you.

He tried to work with her to get his eyesight back but no such luck. He could still only see the colors, emotions of other people, although he had no problem knowing what they were feeling and thinking now.

Things went fairly normal – normal for Torchwood, that is – for awhile, routine things washing through the Rift, the occasional Weevil to catch, but nothing serious.

By now, Ianto was comfortable enough walking around the Plass on his own. At first, Jack was uneasy about letting him walk around by himself, but reluctantly let him do it, knowing he couldn’t baby him. Gwen, however, had insisted he get a cane. Ianto got one just to humor her but folded it up and tucked it away whenever he was out of sight. He didn’t need it, he could see people just fine and it wasn’t like he was going to go walking off a pier accidentally. He wasn’t going to go running around until he knew for sure how many steps it took to get him around the Plass. He was blind but he wasn’t stupid.

Ianto was honest about the cane, though; it was a little bit fun to creep people out, walking around with it out and stopping just before he walked into them. He’d smile and say hello, watch them walk by and see their colors shift, unnerved at the blind man who seemed to be able to see them anyway. 

He was standing near the water, leaning on a railing and enjoying the smell of the sea when someone walked up to him that he didn’t know.

“Hey there,” a female voice greeted.

“Hello,” Ianto replied, turning to glance at her for a moment. Her colors were normal and he could see she was curious.

“Are you really blind?”

Ianto smiled slightly. “I’m afraid so.”

“But you’re Ianto Jones, right?”

Ianto froze for a moment, forcing himself to keep his smile up. “Yes, I am.”

“You work for Torchwood.”

Okay, things were not good if she knew about Torchwood. “I’m afraid you must be mistaken,” he said lightly, acting bewildered. “What’s Torchwood, exactly?”

He saw her hand move then felt a gun be pressed against his stomach. He froze. 

“Don’t play games with me, Ianto Jones. Listen closely if you don’t want your stomach opened. I’ve planted a bomb in the city. It’s set to go off in around 30 minutes. I started the timer right before I walked up to you. I’ve given you plenty of time to get there. You can try and get whatever equipment you think might stop it but I assure you, nothing will work fast enough. I made sure of that. It’s in the middle of St. David’s Centre. Make sure you’re there too. If they don’t bring you along and if you’re not there in 15 minutes, I’ll activate the other bomb I set up at Cardiff Central station. That one has a timer for only 5 minutes, so make sure they don’t leave you behind.”

Her voice softened and Ianto saw her colors shift to almost… sadness. “I’m sorry I have to do this. I swear, I don’t want to hurt anyone, but it’s either a thousand people now or the whole world later. You’re the only one that can save us when the darkness comes and you’re learning but you’re not ready yet. This is a test, to see if you have what it takes to drive back the darkness. It’s almost here and you’re not ready yet. You have to be. You are the Memory. Remember that, Ianto Jones; you are the Memory. The key lies in that. Now go. If you try and attack me, I will shoot you in the shoulder. It’d be better to just run back to your base as quick as you can.”

Ianto started to slowly back up and the woman didn’t shoot. Ianto trusted she was telling the truth so he turned his back on her to move faster, back towards the Hub. He heard her call out as he walked as fast as he could, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Ianto yanked his cane out so he wouldn’t run into anything as he walked faster than usual, digging out his mobile phone in his coat pocket and flicking it open. He pressed the 1 speed dial, calling Jack. “Come on, come on, come on,” he muttered into the device, urging Jack to pick up.

“Jack Harkness,” he answered on the fourth ring.

“Jack!”

“What’s wrong?” Jack replied instantly, knowing by his tone that Ianto was upset about something.

Ianto instantly repeated what the woman had told him, still making his way back to the Hub, people dodging out of his way as he moved quickly past them.

“Alright, stay there; just stop moving, Ianto, we’ll come to you,” Jack ordered. Even though he couldn’t see his colors, Ianto could hear the worry in his tone.

Frustration welled up in him but he stopped, throwing his cane down angrily. If only he could bloody see, he’d be able to run back to the Hub and they could be on their way. He guessed about 5 or so minutes had past, so that only left 25 minutes. It took less than ten minutes to get to the Centre, so they had over 15 minutes to stop the bomb. It was in the middle of the day in the summer so the Centre would be packed full of people. They had to get everyone out in time before it blew, in case they couldn’t stop it. And why did he have to be there? How was this a test for him? He knew how to defuse a simple bomb but he didn’t know what kind this was. Besides, he couldn’t see it.

He heard the screech of tires and Jack call out his name. Turning around until he saw Jack, he made his way towards him until Jack reached his side. Jack wrapped one arm around his waist and took his wrist with the other, hurrying him along to the car. “Are you alright?” he pressed.

“I’m fine,” Ianto reassured him, understanding the need to rush. “Have you been keeping track of the time?”

Ianto could hear the humor in Jack’s tone. “Yeah, I’m using your stopwatch.”

He gave a little dry laugh. “At least someone can use it.” Jack opened the door and helped him in before he ran around and got back in the driver’s seat. As they took off, Ianto glanced behind him, only to see Tosh and Gwen. “Where’s Owen?”

“He’s going to the station to try and find the other bomb,” Gwen informed him. “We called the police to start evacuated people at both places.”

“I’m not getting any readings at the Centre; I have no idea where this bomb is or if there even is one,” said Tosh.

“There is one,” Ianto said firmly. “I’m sure of it; she wasn’t lying. How much time is left?”

“22 minutes and 18 seconds,” Tosh informed him.

“Tosh, can you set off the fire alarm, smoke detectors, anything?” Jack asked.

“I’m on it.” Ianto listened to the sound of her rapidly typing away. As they drove, Ianto silently counted down in his head, taking a sort of odd comfort in the numbers.

When they neared the Centre, Jack told them what to do. “Gwen, your priority is to try and get as many people out of there as you can and as smoothly as possible. We don’t want a riot. The police should already be there; help them. Tosh, Ianto, we’re going to try to find this bomb and disable it. Have you found anything yet?”

“No, nothing,” Tosh replied, the frustration evident in her tone.

As they pulled up and got out, Ianto gaped slightly. There were so many people, it looked like there was nothing but a sea of colors in front of him. “Jack,” Ianto said worriedly.

“We’ll get everyone out. There’s still time left,” Jack said firmly. He took Ianto’s arm and Ianto placed a hand on his shoulder, letting him guide him. They had to fight through the crowd that was quickly growing outside but they managed to get in. Gwen branched off to help assist the police while Ianto, Jack, and Tosh headed inside.

“Tosh, anything?” Jack demanded. “There’s only twelve minutes left.”

“I’m getting a small signal over here.” Tosh went on ahead of them and Jack helped Ianto follow.

“What I don’t understand is why she specifically wants you here,” Jack murmured. “I don’t like that.”

“I don’t know why either,” Ianto agreed.

“Found it!” Tosh cried out in triumph. Ianto saw her drop to her knees; she must have been inspecting the bomb. “Definitely alien, haven’t seen anything like it before.”

Ianto could see Jack’s colors turn a darker purple in fear. “Jack?” he asked quietly.

“I know what kind of bomb that is. The people outside aren’t far enough away. Gwen!” he barked into his earpiece. “We found the bomb and it’s gunna be big, you need to get the people outside farther away!”

“There’s a huge crowd out here, Jack; that’s going to be really hard!” Ianto barely heard Gwen say back.

“Just do it! Find some way to drive them back!” Jack ordered. “Tosh, can you stop it?”

“I’m trying.”

Ianto’s mind whirled, recalling what the woman had said. This was a test for him, so there had to be something he could do to help. He tuned out Jack and Tosh talking to each other, trying to find some way to stop the bomb, and thought hard. She said he was the Memory, that only he could drive back the darkness that was coming. He was learning something. What had he learned recently? He learned how to see the colors of other people, learned how to broadcast his own –

Ianto sucked in a breath. Of course. Drive back the darkness, drive back the people.

“Jack,” Ianto said quietly. “Jack!”

“What?” Jack snapped.

“You and Tosh have to go. Now,” Ianto told him firmly. “I know what she wants me to do; I know why she wanted me to be here.”

“Well, tell us!”

“I can push my own emotions out, cause other people to feel what I’m feeling. I’ll make everyone nearby feel my own fear; it’ll make them run for their lives in the opposite direction. I can channel it so it feels like the threat is right here.”

“Ianto, you could hardly do that with the Weevils; there’s no way you can do it with a thousand people!” Jack protested.

“But I’ve got Kriciana now. She’ll help me. I can do it, Jack.”

“Then do it. We’ll wait.”

“No! Jack, you’re standing right next to me, you’ll feel the full brunt of it! You’ll just end up running anyway, so go now.”

“What about the bomb?”

“She said there wasn’t a way to stop it.”

“There’s always a way!”

“I don’t think we’re going to find one in the next few minutes, Jack!” Ianto snapped. “How much longer?”

“Seven minutes,” Tosh said quietly.

“Go now and you can get away to safety.”

“Then I’m going to get you far away enough from the blast so it won’t hurt you.”

“Jack, I have to be right here! If I move, then the radius I broadcast my emotions and the radius of the explosion will differ! After I’ve done it, I swear, I will get away as fast as I can.”

“I’m not leaving you to get blown up, Ianto!”

“You have to!” Ianto practically screamed at him. “We don’t have time! If I die doing this, you are my only chance at coming back! You said yourself, we have a connection! I felt you die!”

“We don’t know if it works the same way for you!” Jack shot back.

“You said that myself from the future told you about this! Why would I lie? Trust me, Jack! Trust the me of the future and trust me now! I can do this!”

Jack was silent and Ianto could see the conflict of colors, a swirl of red, blue, and purple: anger at being so helpless, terrified that he might lose Ianto again and for good this time.

“You have to let me go, Jack,” Ianto pushed. “We are running out of time. Run. Get out of here, get yourself to safety. I don’t want to force you to do this. Please listen to me. There should be more than enough time for me to get away from the bomb so when it explodes, it won’t obliterate me completely. You can find me, bring me back if I die. I can do this. Let me go.”


	9. Chapter Eight

Jack didn’t speak and Ianto could feel the heat of his stare on his face. Ianto opened his mouth to try to convince him again but Jack cut him off, his voice low. “I want you on the comms at all times, do I make myself clear?”

An odd sense of relief surged through him. “I won’t turn it off. I promise.”

“Tosh,” Jack snapped, turning to leave.

Tosh got up off the floor and went to Ianto, hugging him tightly for a moment. “Be safe,” she murmured before she let him go.

Ianto smiled softly. “Trust me, I plan to do this as quickly as possible. I have no desire to get blown up.” He rested his hands on her shoulders. “Now go.”

He saw her nod then watched her walk off towards Jack.

Jack was silent for a few long intense seconds before he said, “I’ll see you in five minutes. There’s only six until it goes off.” His voice was quiet, odd.

Ianto nodded. Jack and Tosh took off running and he counted to thirty to make sure they would be far enough away so they wouldn’t be hit with the full brunt of his emotions before he went to work.

He closed his eyes even though he couldn’t see because it helped, taking a deep breath and reaching inside himself.

_Kriciana?_

_Ianto_ , she replied back: a wave of green, comforting him, and a dash of purple and blue, worry and fear.

_I need you._

_I know. I am here._

He let her colors wash over him, soothing him for a moment before Kriciana took control of his emotions and forced him to feel nothing but fear. A dark purple wall seemed to explode in his mind and his eyes shot open, breathing quickening, hands tightening into fists at his sides.

He focused on pushing the fear out as far and as deep as he could… and that’s when it all went to hell.

Something reached out and touched Kriciana. Ianto felt it invade his mind for a second, just a quick brush against him, but it was enough to distract Kriciana completely.

She was still for a moment and Ianto saw bright yellow of shock before she exclaimed, _Corrin?_

She pulled away completely, leaving Ianto to deal with his fear that exploded into terror when he realized she was no longer mentally with him.

 _Kriciana, I need you!_ he called out desperately, but she didn’t listen. She was too focused on calling out, reaching out, trying to find this Corrin again.

 _Corrin, answer me! Corrin, I felt you! Please don’t leave me! Please! Corrin! Come back! CORRIN!_ she started to scream in his mind, her desperation overpowering Ianto completely until he could hardly think, could hardly focus on the bomb, on getting everyone away safely.

 _Kriciana, I need you to help me!_ he begged, crying out.

She kept on calling for Corrin.

For the first time in a long time, Ianto felt truly alone and it terrified him. There was no way he could push everyone away on his own, not that big of a radius and not in that short amount of time. The clock was ticking and unless Ianto did something fast, he was going to be completely destroyed by the explosion and a lot of other people were going to get hurt. There was no way Jack could bring him back if he didn’t have a body to return to but he couldn’t leave until he was sure that at least the majority of the people outside would be safe.

 _Kriciana!_ he screamed in his mind but her screams drowned out his as she cried, sobbing in hope and desperation, calling out for Corrin over and over, pushing Ianto completely away from her. Ianto slowly felt himself slipping away, becoming a part of her and her emotions, his fear becoming hers as she took over his mind and body.

Then Ianto heard a familiar voice scream his name in his ear, filled with so much panic and worry, that it jerked him back for a moment. “Jack,” he whispered, realizing his whole entire body was shaking, a cold sweat breaking out on his skin.

He had to get control. Kriciana wouldn’t listen to him and he had to save the people nearby. He had to. This was his test and it was pass or fail only. He wouldn’t fail, wouldn’t let himself.

Ianto sucked in a breath, dropped to his knees, covered his ears with his hands, and let out a long, loud, primal scream. He held onto it for as long as his breath held out, forcing all the air out of his lungs.

When he sucked in another deep breath, his mind was silent and he could hear Jack yelling into his ear.

 _Ianto?_ Kriciana replied, finally calm, reaching out and enveloping his mind with her colors, soothing him. _I am here, it is alright. I am here._

“Damnit, Ianto, answer me!” Jack shouted through his earpiece. “I’m coming back in there!”

Ianto’s eyes snapped open. _No_ , he thought. _Help me_ , he begged Kriciana. He  
couldn’t answer Jack; he wasn’t even sure how much time was left now, but he let the fear he felt at the thought of Jack coming back to get him give him the final push he needed to finally shove his fear out, Kriciana an amplifier, helping to broaden the radius.

He thought he heard Jack give some sort of strangled gasp as the fear hit him. He wasn’t sure, too focused on pushing his fear out as far as he possibly could, hoping that it worked. He didn’t hold anything back.

Ianto lost himself in his own mind for who knew how long when Jack screaming at him again brought him back.

“Ianto, you did it, now run! RUN! There’s less than a minute left!”

Ianto surged to his feet, fully intent on running as fast as he could to safety. He took two quick steps forward then froze. “Jack?” he asked softly, struggling to keep his voice from shaking as he walked as fast as he could, holding his arms out in front of him. “Is everyone safe?”

“We’re fine, everyone’s fine, they all took off running like bats out of hell, we’re all okay except for you so get the fuck out of there right now!” Jack said. Ianto could hear the anxiety clearly in his tone.

“How much longer?”

“26 seconds; Ianto, run!”

A dry laugh that was half a sob tore from Ianto’s throat. “I can’t see, Jack. I can’t see where I’m going. I don’t think I’d get very far if I just ran blindly, crashed into the wall or tripped over something and got dazed from a blow to the head. I’m going as fast as I can. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Ianto,” Jack said in a voice Ianto never wanted to hear again, ever, full of desperation, despair, fear, worry…

Ianto closed his eyes, still moving forward. If he was going to die, he was going to die not giving up. “I love you,” he whispered as he braced himself, his face wet with two trails of tears.

Two seconds later, the bomb exploded.

***************************************************

Jack barely noticed as the blue sky was suddenly filled with an orange blossom of fire. He stared straight ahead in horror, feeling like something had just been ripped out of him. His legs felt weak, like he could barely stand up, and he’d never felt so utterly tired before. He felt… mortal.

He knew Ianto was dead.

Before Jack realized, he was running as fast as he could back to the Centre. “I want a status report right now!” he barked into his earpiece.

“I found the bomb here, Jack,” Owen said. “There’s no timer counting down but I’m bringing it back so we can dismantle it properly. How’s everything over on your end?”

“Gwen?” Jack demanded.

“We’re fine, we’re all fine,” she assured. “Everyone’s really confused about what just happened but it doesn’t look like anyone was close enough to get hurt too bad. A few people might need to go to the hospital.”

“Ianto?” Jack asked, praying that he would answer, dreading silence.

Nothing.

“Jack!” Tosh called out from behind him as she struggled to keep up. “I’m still getting a signal from his mobile, I can track him!” 

Hope surged through him. If his mobile was intact then he had to be too. He had to be, so he could come back and set things right again.

When he saw the Centre, his eyes widened in shock. It was hardly recognizable, practically obliterated. It would take them ages to dig Ianto out. Jack didn’t even consider the possibility that Ianto might not have gotten far away enough to escape from getting blown apart. Even so, his body must have been heavily damaged.

“Tosh!” He whirled around to see her run up to him, slightly out of breath. She held out a PDA and he took it, immediately making his way through the rubble towards the signal.

“Jack, be careful!” Tosh yelled, attempting to follow him, regardless of the wreckage burning around them.

“Stay back!” Jack ordered. Tosh could get hurt if she tried to find Ianto but Jack couldn’t die so he’d be –

He froze, remembering. They were connected now. He was risking Ianto’s life by risking his own right now but he couldn’t just leave Ianto lying buried under rubble. He had to find him. Swearing, he pushed ahead.

When he got to the signal, he dropped the PDA on the ground, not caring about the equipment at all. He started to move debris out of the way, hoping Ianto wasn’t crushed flat underneath it all.

He barely noticed Tosh, then Gwen, helping to clear away the rubble as best they could a few minutes later.

 _Come on, Ianto_ , he thought, heaving a heavy piece of stone out of the way. _Where are you?_

He wasn’t sure how long they dug for but they kept on steadily working until Gwen gave a cry.

“A hand! It’s a hand!” she exclaimed, starting to dig frantically. Jack and Tosh quickly but carefully made their way over and helped to shove more rubble aside. They unearthed first a hand, then an arm that was sticking out from under a tilted pillar.

Jack felt a lump in his throat rise up that he choked back when he could just make out Ianto’s body underneath it, more or less in one piece. The top of the pillar was resting on large chunk of the building while the end was on the ground, making a tomb big enough for Ianto to be protected under. It was a bloody miracle.

Jack reached down into the space and, with Gwen’s help, hauled him up enough so he could wrap his arms around his torso and pull him out the rest of the way.

Ianto’s body was a mess. Blood was coming out of his ears, nose, and mouth. He had a large open wound on his forehead and one of his legs was bent at an unnatural angle. There was a myriad of tiny cuts littered across his face and hands. His clothes were torn and ragged. On closer inspection, Jack saw that his side was cut open with a gash that looked about a foot long.

“Help me get him to the street,” he told Tosh and Gwen. Together, the three of them carefully made their way back out of the rubble. When they hit solid ground, Jack hefted Ianto up into his arms, looking down at him with an expressionless face. “Let’s get back to the Hub. I want to clean him up as much as possible.” 

By now, policemen were swarming the area. Three were making their way towards them quickly.

“Go on, get him back to the Hub; I’ll take care of this,” Gwen urged with a wave of her hand, looking at Jack.

“Thank you,” Jack said in a soft, sincere voice.

Gwen nodded, her eyes lowering to Ianto’s battered face. She leaned down and kissed his forehead before she turned and headed off to distract the police who would either try and get Ianto to a hospital or ask them a whole lot of questions.

“I can drive,” Tosh offered as they neared the SUV.

Jack just nodded and Tosh opened the door so he could climb into the backseat without letting Ianto out of his arms. On the way back, he held Ianto close, unsure of when he would wake up – because he would wake up, it wasn’t an option, he would - but wanting him to know he was safe if he should do so before they got back home.

Owen was waiting for them. He stared in shock at the state of Ianto for a moment before he pointed to a small box-like object that was sitting on the desk in front of him. “Trade places with you, Tosh? I have no idea how to dismantle that thing.”

“I’ll get right on it,” she acknowledge with a nod.

“Wait for me,” Jack ordered sternly, giving her a look before he carted Ianto down to the medical bay. He wanted nothing more than to stay at Ianto’s side until he woke up but he couldn’t forsake the others just because of what had happened. “He’s dead,” he explained to Owen, “so patch him up as quick as you can. Don’t use anything, just take care of his wounds as best you can so when he wakes up, it’ll be easier for him to heal the rest of the way, alright?” Jack really really hoped that Ianto would be just like him and heal any wounds he had that had caused his death otherwise… He shuddered slightly, then went to help Tosh.

By the time Gwen got back to the Hub, Tosh, under Jack’s careful watch, had dismantled the bomb. Owen had also fixed Ianto’s wounds to the best of his ability, not being hasty but not taking his time either.

Jack, with help from the others and a stern snipe to be careful with him, moved Ianto to the couch so he would be more comfortable when he woke up. Gwen and Tosh worked with the CCTV footage to try and figure out who this woman was who approached Ianto. Owen kept an eye on what was going on at the Centre. Thanks to Ianto, no one had died and there were only minor wounds that were taken care of quickly at the hospital. Jack simply held Ianto, watching him for any sign of stirring. He felt more and more exhausted as time went by but he didn’t allow himself to doze.

Three hours and twenty seven minutes after the bomb went off, Ianto suddenly jerked to life in Jack’s arms with a terrified cry then immediately started thrashing about, struggling against him.

Gwen, Tosh, and Owen were over within seconds.

“Ianto, it’s okay, calm down, you did it! You’re safe!” Jack tried to reassure, feeling energy surge within him, like someone had pressed a button and his body had restarted itself again. “Ianto!” Jack snapped sharply when the young man didn’t stop struggling and making noises of distress. “Look at me!” He reached up with a hand and pressed his palm against Ianto’s nearly healed face, the gash in his head slowly fading to nothing as Jack watched. “Look at me!”

Ianto’s eyes met his, wide and full of terror as he froze.

“It. Is. Okay,” Jack enunciated clearly. “It’s over. You’re back at the Hub. Everyone got out okay; you did it. We got the other bomb and dismantled it. You’re safe. It’s over.”

Not taking his eyes away from Jack, Ianto sucked in a deep breath then let it out with a shudder. He closed his eyes for a moment, composing himself, then opened them to look at Jack again. “Good,” he murmured shakily, trying hard to keep himself together.

“I want Owen to look you over just to make sure you’re okay,” Jack told him. “How do you feel? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Ianto was still for a moment, then shook his head. “No. I’m alright. Just a little shaken. Kriciana’s still here. She… heard someone call out to her, someone named Corrin.”

Jack immediately looked up at the rest of his team. “Find out anything you can on someone named Corrin in Cardiff, and if you can’t find anything, try Wales, then England and Scotland and… you get the picture.”

Tosh and Gwen hurried off to do so.

“Can you stand up?” Jack asked.

“Jack, I feel fine,” Ianto protested. “If it’s not too much, I’d like a shower and a change of clothes.”

“After Owen looks at you,” Jack insisted.

Ianto rolled his eyes and sighed but got to his feet. “Is this what you feel like all the time?” he murmured, looking at him. “So full of endless energy…”

“Only when you’re alive.”

Ianto’s mouth curled up into a little smile before he turned and made his way down to the medbay. Jack and Owen followed him down and he hopped up easily on the operating table.

It was then that Jack realized Ianto hadn’t used his hands to guide him like he normally did when walking around the Hub. Hope suddenly rushing through him, he asked casually, “Ianto, what color is my shirt?”

“It’s dark blue and I know that because you were thinking it. Owen’s shirt, however, is gray and has the words Galaxy Allstars on it. Gwen’s was red and I believe that Tosh is wearing her hair up today. Is that the answer you were more or less looking for?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye.

Jack didn’t care if Owen was right there, he pulled Ianto close and kissed him hard. He heard the doctor cough as Ianto kissed him back and he ignored Owen for a moment, reveling in the fact that Ianto was back, he was healed, and he could see again. 

Ianto pulled away after a moment, murmuring against his mouth. “No offense, Jack, but I would really like to clean up so if you don’t mind…”

Jack grinned widely and stepped back, letting Owen check all the wounds Ianto had had. After he removed the stitches he’d done, he pronounced Ianto completely fine.

“Good. Help Gwen and Tosh find out anything you can about this Corrin person and whoever planted that bomb.”

“And what are you going to do?” Owen asked with a raised eyebrow.

Jack smirked. “I’m going to help Ianto clean up.”

*****************************************************************

After a shower that had taken much longer than it should have, Ianto emerged in a clean suit, eager to get back to work now that he had his sight back.

Jack, however, pulled him into his office, saying he wanted a word before Ianto got back to his duties.

When Ianto walked in, he could see, both physically and looking at Jack’s colors, that he was nervous about something.

“So, since Kriciana is still with you, I assume you can still see emotions, right?” Jack ventured.

Ianto nodded. “It’s sort of like everyone has a very colorful aura around them although… it’s not as easy to tell what people are thinking anymore unless I concentrate harder. I personally think its better that way.”

Jack nodded slowly, running a hand over his face.

“Are you alright? You’re… upset about something,” Ianto asked, slightly worried.

Jack was still for a moment, then looked up at him, his eyes suddenly full of intent. “Before you… you died. You said something to me. I just wanted to tell you that I…” Jack trailed off, looking away and suddenly feeling very awkward. He didn’t do this part of relationships very well. “Ianto, I…”

Ianto laughed softly and Jack glanced back at him to see his face was full of amusement but his eyes betrayed a much deeper emotion. “It’s alright, Jack. I’m not an idiot,” he said gently. “You don’t have to tell me for me to know.”

Jack just stared at him for five seconds, then pulled him into a tight hug, one hand resting in his hair while the other wrapped securely around his waist. Ianto held onto him in return and Jack didn’t let him go until Gwen came to find them.

***************************************************

They didn’t have much luck searching for someone named Corrin and didn’t get a match on who the woman was that had set the whole mess up. However, Tosh did find something rather interesting as they kept an eye on the news.

There was a story about how an eyewitness had seen someone get kidnapped. “That poor young man!” the elderly woman had exclaimed. “Why, this car just came out of nowhere and this man jumps out, hustles the poor dear into a car and drives off! What kind of person kidnaps a blind man and leaves his cane behind in the middle of the Plass?”

The loud laughter that echoed through the Hub after a few seconds of stunned silence was very much welcomed by them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Twelve years later, I'm finally getting around to rewriting this... Better late than never, I hope? 8D Xel from the prologue definitely got tweaked into Lirithael in the Soul Song saga, and I thought Bec (introduced in Song's Interlude) originally showed up in this but now I recall I had planned to introduce her in the sequel to Ashes To Flames I never got around to writing. Kriciana's role sort of got split in half - half of it went to Bec while the other half went to Lirithael. As for all the different characters I made up for this... yeah, I drastically cut down on my NPC list for Soul Song, haha, including the Torchwood kids mentioned in passing. There's no Megan Williams since Anwen is canon now. As for other kids, well... you'll just have to wait and see if I kept any for the Soul Song saga XP
> 
> As for Corrin... I honestly cannot remember where I was going with that so that's going to be a loose end that never gets resolved 8D I think it had something to do with Kriciana and Corrin's race and Ianto and Jack going to their planet at some point? I truly can't remember for the life of me, pffft.
> 
> Anyway! Thank you for reading this blast from the past, and I hope you take a look or continue to take a look at the Soul Song saga to see what stayed in and what got cut because while some plot elements stayed the same and the basic goal is still the same (make it so Ianto and Jack can stay together without Jack's immortality getting in the way), the specifics of the plot are... really different now, haha.


End file.
